Mayor expresses concerns about 'cascading impact of implementing a living wage'
The City of Winnipeg would have to spend more than $3 million more per year if it offered city workers a wage rate that some advocates consider a living wage, according to a report.
Currently, Manitoba has a minimum wage of $15.30 per hour, far from the $19.21 per hour deemed to be the liveable wage in a report to the Mayor’s Executive Policy Committee.
Pushing the pay to that rate would cost the city $1.75 million per year, according to a CTV News report, citing the report to the committee. The change would benefit 516 employees, including 311 customer service staff, library workers, and recreation technicians, noted according to the report.
On top of that, requiring a living wage for private contractors doing business with the city would increase the cost for the city by $1.6 million annually. This is on top of the $4 million that Winnipeg is already paying for third-party, service-based contracts, for jobs like security guards and cleaning staff.
A living wage is needed to help pull some workers out of poverty, according to Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
"We’ve got City of Winnipeg workers that have to access food banks, that are municipal government employees, that are using food banks on a regular basis. That's disturbing,” said Delbridge.
Despite the costs, "I do think it's worth pursuing,” said City Councillor Brian Mayes, in the CTV News report. “Especially for people who work for subcontractors, these are our lowest paid folks.”
One-third of workers in British Columbia — or 740,000 people — are not earning enough to meet the basic needs of their families, according to a previous report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
Should Winnipeg offer a living wage?
Such an increase could lead to fewer companies bidding on city contracts, and more challenges ahead for those that do, said Brianna Solberg, from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
"For the small, small businesses, they've seen all of their costs increase, so to mandate a higher living wage will mean that there could potentially be some job cuts." said Solberg.
Mayor Scott Gillingham said the report should be perceived as “information only”. He added that any increase to the minimum wage should be negotiated.
“For years, I’ve had concerns about the cascading impact of implementing a living wage,” he said. “City wages should be set through collective bargaining, not on the floor of council.”
Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and British Columbia have previously announced incoming increases to their minimum wage rate.
