British Columbia Federation of Labour

"BC’s lowest paid workers deserve a raise," Sinclair said. "Minimum wage earners working full-time should earn enough to stay above the poverty line. That can only be achieved by immediately raising the minimum wage to at least $10.00 per hour."

"The provincial government likes to crow about a booming economy, but it’s only booming for a few. BC’s lowest paid workers have been left behind," Sinclair said. Sinclair’s comments came on the fifth anniversary of BC’s last increase to the minimum wage.

Between 2000 and 2005, employment in BC grew by nine percent, but the number of British Columbians earning the minimum wage increased by 36 percent.

"Five years ago BC’s freeze on tuition was eliminated, but a freeze on minimum wage was put in place and students have been paying the price ever since," said Shamus Reid, BC National Executive Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students.

"Since 2001, average tuition has climbed from $2,275 to $4,900 in 2006 and wages haven’t come close to keeping up," Reid said.

Earlier this week Harry Arthurs, former Mediator and Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, released a report reviewing the federal Labour Relations Code. Arthurs recommended that "the [federal] government should accept the principle that no Canadian worker should work full-time for a year and still live in poverty".

In a community of over 500,000 people, Statistics Canada’s Low Income Cut Off (LICO) in 2005 for a single person was $17,219 after taxes. A single person working for $8.00 an hour for 40 hours per week for a full year would earn $15,613 after income tax, Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) deductions.

At $10.00 an hour, the single full-time, full-year worker would earn $17,494 after income tax and deductions, earning just enough to reach above the poverty line.

Sinclair also called on the government to introduce legislation similar to the State of Washington, so that future increases are indexed annually to inflation.

It is estimated that 250,000 BC workers would benefit from an immediate raise of the minimum wage to $10.00.

A report on "Raising The Minimum Wage" from the B.C. Federation of Labour is available online at www.bcfed.com.