We're last! We're last!

[flamingfingers]

FOI reveals province knew mistakes made with B.C.'s new minimum wage
by Travis Lupick on January 27th, 2016 at 12:05 PM

Jobs Minister Shirley Bond and Premier Christy Clark both claimed that a 20-cent minimum-wage increase would lift B.C. from Canada’s bottom rung.

PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
When the provincial government implemented a 20-cent increase to the minimum wage last September, it knew the new rate of $10.45 would keep B.C.’s lowest earners near or at the very bottom of the country.

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Civil servants sent emails alerting colleagues to this situation, documents obtained via a freedom-of-information request reveal.

And yet no action was taken to revise the increase to a point where B.C.’s minimum wage would rank higher than among the lowest in Canada.

That’s despite Premier Christy Clark and Jobs Minister Shirley Bond both having claimed that the September increase would raise B.C.’s minimum wage out of the gutter.

“Raising the minimum wage allows B.C. to keep pace with minimum wages in the rest of Canada,” Bond said in March 2015. Clark had previously made similar statements. “We’re not going to be number one in the country by any stretch,” she said in 2011. “But we’re going to be catching up. We won’t be at the bottom anymore.”

Those comments were made in good faith, the documents make clear. But the emails obtained by the Straight also reveal a clear timeline for when the government made a mistake, became aware of its error, and then failed to correct it or reveal to the public that the premier and the minister’s words were no longer the truth.

In March 2015, the government announced a 20-cent increase based on a confidential cabinet submission that states 20 cents was sufficient to raise B.C.’s minimum to the middle of the pack. In June, it learned that 20 cents was not enough to accomplish Clark’s stated goal. Then, in September, it went ahead with the increase as planned, knowing it would not lift B.C.’s rank from below the other provinces.

“We are tenth currently,” wrote Jake Ayers, a senior policy adviser with the B.C. Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, on June 29, 2015. “But when Alberta and NFLD increase in Oct, we will be 12th – except for the fact Sask will also very likely increase past us in Oct – so we will probably be 13th – i.e., last.”

Another bureaucrat, Trevor Hughes, said the same. He sent an email recounting how the B.C. Federation of Labour had warned him B.C.’s minimum wage would rank tenth out of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories. “And I quietly thought we were lower,” Hughes added.

Ayers’s predictions came true.

Last October, five provinces raised their minimum wages, resulting in B.C. falling to second-to-last place. Then, in December, New Brunswick announced it would increase its minimum wage to $10.65, dropping B.C.’s to dead last.

Ayers accepted responsibility for the matter in an email sent one week after his warning. “I’ll take the blame for only just discovering this now,” he wrote on July 6.

An email sent directly to Ayers was confirmed received; the ministry refused to grant an interview.

By phone, B.C. Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger described the provincial government’s failure to correct the premier and minister’s earlier statements as “outrageous and unconscionable”.

“Between the initial announcement and implementation, they figured it out,” Lanzinger said. “And they went ahead with the implementation and didn’t change it.”

“Raising the minimum wage allows B.C. to keep pace with minimum wages in the rest of Canada while maintaining our competitiveness," said B.C. Minister of Labour Shirley Bond at a press conference in March 2015.

Opponents of a higher minimum wage often claim it’s an issue that’s largely confined to young people on their way to higher-paying jobs. According to a government analysis obtained via another freedom-of-information request, in 2013 there were 120,400 British Columbians earning the minimum wage. Of those, 47 percent, or 56,100, were aged 25 or older.

Lanzinger noted that B.C. and just about every other jurisdiction in Canada have pegged their minimum wage to the consumer price index or another indicator similar to inflation. She explained that this means each wage will rise annually at roughly the same rate, thus keeping B.C. at the very bottom.

“It is a feature of good government to correct mistakes,” Lanzinger said. “When they discovered that it was going to leave us at the bottom, they should have corrected that mistake.”

http://www.straight.com/news/624576/foi ... nimum-wage

[twobits]

Personally, I like the minimum being the lowest in Canada. It's good incentive for kids to stay in school and maybe go on to get a trade or technical diploma that there are actually jobs for. It also discourages students from burdening themselves with tens of thousands in student loans spent on getting a University Arts degree when they just end up flipping burgers anyway.

[Smurf]

Do you not think that it also causes wages in general to be a bit lower? Scaled from the bottom up. One would hope not but I believe it usually does. This would mean that there could be a brain drain for better pay elsewhere. Do we not want to attract the best to stay in or come to our province? I have always tended to think that about the middle of the pack is the best.

[Gone_Fishin]

If you can provide more than $10.45 in value to your employer, then you should get more than $10.45. If not, then I'll have fries with that, thank you very much. It's pretty simple.

[Donald G]

It is not mandatory that only minimum wage be paid. People who are worth more to their employer should be and often are, paid more, Supply and demand in the free enterprise system. If you want more than make yourself more valuable.

I do not know anyone in BC who is forced to take or stay with a given job that they are convinced does not pay enough.

[Bsuds]

I do not know anyone in BC who is forced to take or stay with a given job that they are convinced does not pay enough.

Except those who have no other choice if they want to survive.

[Buckeye19]

Personally, I like the minimum being the lowest in Canada. It's good incentive for kids to stay in school and maybe go on to get a trade or technical diploma that there are actually jobs for. It also discourages students from burdening themselves with tens of thousands in student loans spent on getting a University Arts degree when they just end up flipping burgers anyway.

Bingo, twobits. You are spot on.

Minimum wage jobs are for people with minimum skills. They are not meant to live off of plain and simple. If you want to be paid better then get an education (a relevant one), a trade or go work where most others aren't willing to go. It really is that simple. People are where they are in life because of the choices they made, no one else.

[Donald G]

by Bsuds » 9 minutes ago

Donald G wrote:
I do not know anyone in BC who is forced to take or stay with a given job that they are convinced does not pay enough.


Except those who have no other choice if they want to survive.

I appreciate what you are saying but WADR why should any one employer of any one employee, who has to compete in a tough free enterprise system have to, in effect, subsidize an employee by paying them more than they are worth in production ??

[Bsuds]

I appreciate what you are saying but WADR why should any one employer of any one employee, who has to compete in a tough free enterprise system have to, in effect, subsidize an employee by paying them more than they are worth in production ??

That's not what you said and not what I replied to.

[Donald G]

by Buckeye19 » 3 minutes ago

twobits wrote:
Personally, I like the minimum being the lowest in Canada. It's good incentive for kids to stay in school and maybe go on to get a trade or technical diploma that there are actually jobs for. It also discourages students from burdening themselves with tens of thousands in student loans spent on getting a University Arts degree when they just end up flipping burgers anyway.


Bingo, twobits. You are spot on.

Minimum wage jobs are for people with minimum skills. They are not meant to live off of plain and simple. If you want to be paid better then get an education (a relevant one), a trade or go work where most others aren't willing to go. It really is that simple. People are where they are in life because of the choices they made, no one else.

I agree with your philosophy but as Sudsy says there are those who do not have the ability to improve their work skills and thus value to their employer.

[Donald G]

b

y Bsuds » 3 minutes ago

Donald G wrote:
I appreciate what you are saying but WADR why should any one employer of any one employee, who has to compete in a tough free enterprise system have to, in effect, subsidize an employee by paying them more than they are worth in production ??


That's not what you said and not what I replied to.

Is it not just different sides or faces of the same cube ??

[dirtybiker]

The way I see it is that every time min. wage goes up, my wage goes down.

If every time min. wage went up, my wage went up the same amount it wouldn't be so bad.

It doesn't!!!!

At this rate my 30+ year career will result in me finally making it full circle...right back
at min. wage.

Some wet behind the ears kid can come in with little to no knowledge, understanding or
experience and be close to the same wage as an accomplished veteran.

Then it's still up to the veteran to train said newbies too.....yup, makes sense to me.

Give me a $10.00 an hour raise to cover the last couple min. wage increases to get caught up
and raises to hold an even gap after that and,...... I'll be good!!!!!

[alfred2]

som e people need to get a ife and stop with the ndp positions, who cares if we are last or first as long as there is some guideline,

[flamingfingers]

^^The rest of Canada can be taken as a 'guideline'.

Also:
Opponents of a higher minimum wage often claim it’s an issue that’s largely confined to young people on their way to higher-paying jobs. According to a government analysis obtained via another freedom-of-information request, in 2013 there were 120,400 British Columbians earning the minimum wage. Of those, 47 percent, or 56,100, were aged 25 or older.

[flamingfingers]

The way I see it is that every time min. wage goes up, my wage goes down.

If every time min. wage went up, my wage went up the same amount it wouldn't be so bad.

It doesn't!!!!

At this rate my 30+ year career will result in me finally making it full circle...right back
at min. wage.

Some wet behind the ears kid can come in with little to no knowledge, understanding or
experience and be close to the same wage as an accomplished veteran.

Then it's still up to the veteran to train said newbies too.....yup, makes sense to me.

Give me a $10.00 an hour raise to cover the last couple min. wage increases to get caught up
and raises to hold an even gap after that and,...... I'll be good!!!!!

Well, apply the same logic - has your value to your employer gone up over the years past the $XX.xx you made years ago? Why have your wages remained stagnant? Haven't you asked for a raise commensurate with the value you have added to your employer's business because of your experience?

Don't try to blame increases of the min wage for your lack of a wage increase.