A campaign to improve wages paid to low income earners was officially launched in the community of Guelph and Wellington County on Tuesday.
The “living wage” campaign was launched at Innovation Guelph on Oct. 1 with the release of two reports by the Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination.
The campaign calls for a community-wide effort for a living wage of $15.95 an hour, though not tied to the provincially-legislated minimum wage of $10.25 an hour.
“The living wage is an hourly rate that is calculated based on a modest, bare-necessities budget that allows people working full time to meet basic living expenses and to fully participate in work, family life, and community activities,” task force member David Thornley told about 50 people attending the breakfast event.
“Based on local data, the living wage for Guelph and Wellington is $15.95.”
Based on the hourly wage, a family of four would need to earn $56,773 annually, a family of two $40,707 and single person slightly more than $25,000 to cover such costs as housing, food, transportation and recreation.
“Fifteen per cent of the workforce is below the living wage,” Thornley said at the campaign launch.
Trish Hennessy, director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ontario office, was the keynote speaker at the event.
“What you have here is a growing movement across the province about what it really takes for working people to make a living wage,” Hennessy said. “They’re not just cranking out a number. They’re sparking a conversation about what it takes for low-wage workers to get by in this province. In a world of growing precarious work, that’s an important conversation to spark.”
Hennessy noted the provincial government is currently looking at increasing the minimum wage.
“If you work full time and earn the minimum wage in Ontario, you’re living below the poverty line,” she added.
Similar campaigns to the one launched here have already been adopted in Hamilton and Waterloo.
Hennessy and Thornley noted achieving a living wage can include incentives such as lower transit and recreation costs charged by municipalities and affordable housing built by the private sector. For companies, it can include allowing employees to work flexible hours to minimize costs such as day care.
Hennessy said statistics have shown that by increasing wages the community benefits.
“The one thing we know about the lowest wage earners is when you give them a raise they spend it locally,” she said of the community benefits.
Thornley said it’s essential for the task force to get its findings out to the community in a bid to build support for the campaign.
“Our first priority is to raise awareness about what it costs for people to live reasonably in our community,” Thornley said. “While paying a living wage is perhaps the most obvious way to support the living wage, there are other opportunities to consider, such as supporting policy changes that improve government benefits and social programs, and providing employees with annual health benefits or transit subsidies. We want to encourage this type of conversation and challenge our community to do better.”
Stuart Beumer, director of Ontario Works for the county, agreed, saying broad community support is needed.
“We know there’s more to a living wage campaign then simply asking employers to pay more,” Beumer said. “Nobody in our community working full time should have to live in poverty.”
Beumer, chair of the Income Security Action Group, an action group of the task force, announced plans for a community conversation series in 2014.
“The conversations will be themed around the major cost drivers of the living wage,” Beumer said. “The community conversations will allow us to specifically examine the costs and pressures that families and individuals face, as well as what can be done to alleviate these pressures so that earning a living wage can become a reality for a greater number of workers in our community.”
Both task force reports are available at www.gwpoverty.ca.
