The BC Federation of Labour is urging the province’s Fair Wages Commission to bump the timeline for the $15 minimum wage to 2019.
Earlier this spring, the NDP said the wage hike would take place in 2021 once they took office.
The accelerated request is more than reasonable according to BCFED President, Irene Lanzinger.
“There are currently 500,000 people that even if they work full time, they leave below the poverty line, we pay the cost of that in our healthcare system. We say it’s time for the government to fix this very low minimum wage and raise it up to a level where people are at least above the poverty line.”
She is presenting the BC Fed’s case to the Fair Wages Commission(FWC)today in Vancouver.
The Fair Wages Commission is in the middle of its province–wide consultation process to gain feedback from the public and small business owners, which includes a stop in Prince George on Tuesday.
BC should raise the minimum wage to $15/hr before 2021 bc half a million low-wage workers in our province are struggling. #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/LdAku4WVys
— BCFED (@bcfed) September 1, 2017
Lanzinger also shared her thoughts on the possibility the earlier timeline could catch some businesses off guard.
“We understand that businesses need time to implement it, they need to change the payroll system and we understand that it’s going to take a bit of time. People have known about this for a long time and they’ve known that the NDP is committed to a $15 minimum wage, January 2019 is a reasonable timeline.”
She is of the belief BC should be on the same timeline as Alberta and Ontario.
“BC is the most expensive province in the country, we should certainly be at 15 at the same time as Alberta they will be there in October of 2018 and Ontario in January of 2019 – we think we should be equal to those provinces.”
83% of Vancouver and 69.4% of BC residents support a $15/hr minimum wage, according to @BCBusiness' September poll @BCFED #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/KI7mkhZC6i
— First Call (@FirstCallBC) September 19, 2017
Currently, about 400,000 British Columbians earn less than $15 per hour, which equates to one quarter of the province’s workforce.
The BCFED would also like to see all exemptions eliminated to minimum wage laws and to make the Fair Wages Commission a permanent body to oversee the transition of a living wage in the province by monitoring wage levels and employment standards.