Ontario should be keeping up with its neighbour, at least when it comes to minimum wage, according to NDP labour critic Peter Kormos.
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Peter Kormos |
?We have a great deal of catching up to do.? Kormos said. ?We should at least have a minimum wage equal to what the U.S. has created.?
?Minimum wage has stagnated since 1995,? Kormos said. ?The New Democrats have been calling for a raise to $7.50 an hour.?
The increase would give part-time workers an average of $15.60 more a week or $812 more a year, while full-time workers will receive an increase of about $26 more a week or $1,352 more a year.
According to Kormos, minimum wage workers are losing income because the cost of living in Ontario has increased 16 per cent, affecting 300,000 minimum wage workers.
?There has been an increased number of minimum wage workers and many are single mothers trying to support themselves and their children,? he said.
Janet Gasparini, of the Social Planning Council of Sudbury, said raising minimum wage would definitely have an impact on Sudbury.
?We have moved from a community that has primarily worked in the mining industry. The highest number of people work in retail and the service industry or the health care field,? Gasparini said. ?Certainly the employment picture has changed.?
?It?s good for local businesses,? said Kormos. ?They (minimum wage workers) don?t save their money, every penny goes to local businesses.?
?We have been fighting very hard, asking the government to use their power to increase minimum wage,? Kormos said. ?We will continue to fight, and continue to raise the issue of minimum wage during the course of the next provincial election.?
?Kari Cyr
