January 18th, 2012
Families who work for low wages face impossible choices — buy food or heat the house, feed the children or pay the rent. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In many cases it means that the adults in the family are working long hours, often at two or three jobs, just to pay for basic necessities. They have little time to spend with their family, much less to help their children with school work or participate in community activities. The frustration of working harder only to fall further behind is one many BC residents can relate to.
The 2008 CCPA report ‘Working for a Living Wage’ and the 2011 Update shows that most families are taking home a smaller share of the economic pie despite working longer hours. Paying families a living wage, so that they can pay for their basic living expenses, is the most just and effective way of addressing child poverty in BC.
The Living Wage for Families Campaign aims to address these issues by educating the public and decision makers in Metro Vancouver as to the value of paying a living wage and encouraging employers, both public and private, to become Living Wage Employers. Living Wage Employers commit to ensure that all their staff and contracted workers are paid a living wage, which is currently set at $18.81 per hour for Metro Vancouver.
January 18th, 2012
In December, the HEU Living Wage Campaign launched a mini-tour of HEU work sites in the Lower Mainland, encouraging members covered by independent contracts to express what a living wage would mean to them. Living wage activists brought the Living Tree for Living Wages to Surrey Memorial, Children’s and Women’s, Vancouver General and Lions Gate hospitals. 
They invited low-income workers to decorate a holiday tag and to place on the tree their messages about what a living wage would mean to them. HEU Provincial Executive member Louella Vincent, who is part of the union’s living wage working group, donned a Christmas tree costume and let members post their message tags on her for all to read.
The photo includes Vincent, along with HEU member Paula Mann and HEU Living Wage Campaign advisor Priti Shah.
January 10th, 2012
There are many benefits for employers from paying a living wage. One of the most obvious is that they gain public recognition for their commitment to greater corporate social responsibility. For example, a Living Wage Employer, Eclipse Awards has recently been named as a Top 10 Finalist for best Employer in BC, in part as a result of their commitment to paying a living wage to their staff. Find out more about the benefits of becoming a Living Wage Employer by clicking here.
The Living Wage for Families Campaign has a new website www.lwemployers.ca the provides all the details of what is in volved in becoming a Living Wage Employer.
January 10th, 2012
In the run up to the Municipal elections in November 2011 the Living Wage for Families Campaign along with 54 organizations representing more than 300,000 British Columbians – sent an open letter to Metro Vancouver civic election candidates urging them to support and adopt a living wage policy to ensure that all city staff and contracted workers be paid a living wage. There was a lot of interest in the media about the issue of Living Wages – see below for a sample of some of the articles.
The Vancouver Sun
The Tyee
The Georgia Straight
The Record
The Province
January 10th, 2012
1. Paying a Living Wage is one of the most effective ways to tackle child poverty. BC has had the highest child poverty rate in Canada for eight years. 48 percent of the poor children in BC – 55,700 children – live in families with at least one adult working full-time, full-year. Approximately 25% of the couples with children in Greater Vancouver live below the Living Wage level.
2. Increasing parent’s wages has a significant positive impact on childhood development. 80% of the factors that effect childhood development, as identified by the Chief Public Health Officer, improve as family income increases.
3. Living Wages benefit the broader economy by stimulating consumer spending. It is well established that lower-income households spend a larger share of their income than do those in higher income brackets. When workers buy goods and services, doing so benefits neighborhood businesses, many of which are small businesses.
4. Living Wage Policies benefit employers as well as workers. Numerous studies have shown that paying a living wage leads to decreased employee turnover; lower absenteeism; cost savings for staff hiring and training, improved job quality, productivity and service delivery. See this report for details.
5. Living Wage policies have broad public support. In a recent poll 67% of BC voters said they would support politicians who passed a living wage policy.
January 10th, 2012
At the recent BC NDP Convention held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, the British Columbia New Democrats passed, without dissent, the following Resolution–
“WHEREAS over the last 10 years inequality in BC has increased, middle class incomes have stagnated and lower income earners have fallen further and further behind; and WHEREAS BC continues to have the highest rate of child poverty in Canada; and WHEREAS inequality is not only morally wrong, it is expensive for our society, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the BC NDP develop a plan that will reduce poverty and inequality in BC, including promoting the concept of a living wage; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT a BC NDP government commit to implement such a plan.”
January 10th, 2012
Hamilton, ON has become the latest city in Canada to calculate a living wage figure. The Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, working with the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction and CCPA economist Hugh Mackenzie have calculated that a Living Wage for Hamilton is $14.95/hr. Many businesses, NGO’s and the City of Hamilton have already expressed an interest in exploring becoming Living Wage Employers. For more see below:
Should Hamilton become a Living Wage Community?
Hamilton Living Wage Campaign
January 10th, 2012
Childcare is the second most expensive item on most Living Wage calculations. Parents cannot work or take training without affordable, high quality and secure childcare. Public funding for a high quality early childhood system is critical for addressing child and family poverty. The Early Childhood Educators of BC & the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of BC in their ‘Community Plan for a Public System of Integrated Early Care and Learning’ have called for a $10 a day publicly funded childcare system in BC.
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January 10th, 2012
Both the Canadian Labour Congress and the BC Federation of Labour have recently passed resolutions to supoort the Living Wage for Families Campaign.
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January 10th, 2012
Click onto to this link to see the Living Wage for Families response in Business in Vancouver to an article by the Fraser Institute. Also see this article in the Huffington Post quoting recent research that debunks the traditional excuses for not paying a living wage.
Other myths about the living wage are discusssed below:
January 10th, 2012
A series of articles in the Vancouver Sun, based on recent research by Paul Kershaw, has identified BC as the most challenging province in Canada in which to bring up a family. Stagnant wages, rising house prices and poor social supports (such as the lack of subsidized childcare) have meant that more and more families are struggling to make ends meet. For more click here or http://blogs.ubc.ca/newdealforfamilies/
January 10th, 2012
Jennifer Chun has recently published new research into Immigrants and Low Pay in Vancouver. The Living Wage for Families Campaign was involved in compiling this research. The quotes below give an indication of the heart-breaking struggles faced by so many immigrant parents stuck in low income jobs:
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January 10th, 2012
A motion on the living wage by Councilor Craig Keating of the City of North Vancouver was passed unanimously at the Sept. 19 council meeting. This motion invites all three Municipalities in the North Shore to take part in staff investigations about the viability of the living wage as a solution to high living costs that is making it difficult for families to settle in the North Shore. For more details see this article in the North Shore News.
