Minimum wage to reach $10.25/ hour by May of 2012

By NEWS1130

Premier Christy Clark announced BC’s minimum wage will gradually go up at her first cabinet meeting today.

The minimum wage will rise from $8.00 an hour to $8.75 by May, $9.50 by November and up to $10.25 by May of next year.

The government is also getting rid of the $6.00 training wage. However, the minimum wage for people who serve alcohol will cap out at $9.00 by next year.

In a written statement, Clark said, “This increase could mean more than $4,000 additional dollars annually for a full-time employee, providing more support to BC workers and the families who depend on them.”

Clark says they will be rolling out the increase in three stages, so businesses have enough time to adjust.

But not everyone is happy with the changes. Ian Tostenson, the head of the BC Restaurant And Food Services Association, says they are concerned about the timing of the announcement. “There is no way that a business can adjust this quickly…The restaurant industry right now frankly is adjusting to much. It really is having a hard time. It’s got bad sales to begin with, but it’s got bad economy, 0.05 [limit], HST, rising food prices and now this.”

He says what he is getting from other restaurant owners is that the only way they can counter the effects of minimum wage increase is to simply not hire as much, lay off their current employees or cut their hours.

Mark von Schellwitz with the Coalition of BC Businesses, which represents small and medium size companies, says the wage increase will hurt entry-level employees. “They are going to get less hours. Those cash strapped businesses out there are not going to be able to hire these young people, and they are certainly going to curtail their hours of work, if not their jobs all together.”

Meanwhile, unions and anti-poverty groups are applauding BC’s minimum wage hike, but say it doesn’t account for rising living expenses.

Jim Sinclair with the BC Federation of Labour calls the wage hike a first step. “But it’s going to take a year to get there, and after that it’s going to be two years before they review it again. And that does not bode well for us unfortunately. We wind up being last again.”

The BC NDP called the hike a “partial victory for BC’s lowest paid workers.”

The party says it’s been almost ten years since last minimum wage raise in BC. But they say there is still no plan from Christy Clark on how to tie the minimum wage to increasing cost of living.

Over the past three years, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for the government to hike the minimum wage.

Breakdown of BC’s minimum wage:
Today 8.00/hr
May 1/11 $8.75
Nov 1/11 $9.50
May 1/12 $10.25

Alcohol server wage for liquor servers:
Today 8.00/hr
May 1/11 $8.50
Nov 1/11 $8.75
May 1/12 $9.00

This article was originally printed on www.news1130.com.