The Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre (SWEAC) will be introducing the recalculated Living Wage Nov. 4 at the Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op, in partnership with 22 other organizations across the province.
Deputy Mayor Al Sizer will be in attendance to proclaim "Ontario Living Wage Week in Sudbury."
"Everyone knows what minimum wage is - and too many of us are keenly aware that minimum wage is not enough to live on," said a press release by SWEAC.
"The Living Wage is the hourly wage that a worker needs to earn in order to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community."
Monday's launch will include an expert panel with Sudbury representatives Dana Wilson, health equity manager from Public Health Sudbury District, who will be discussing the impacts of wages on health.
She will be joined by Fionna Tough from Sudbury Shared Harvest, who according to the release, will be addressing the connection between wages and food security.
Lastly, an unidentified member of the community has been invited to speak to their lived experience and the larger economic implications of the Living Wage.
According to SWEAC, the goal of this panel is to not only communicate why employers should pay a living wage but why this is more sustainable and beneficial than increasing the minimum wage.
"The myth is often that if you pay a living wage, or even increase minimum wage, that everything else goes up, but it's not true,” said Scott Florence, executive director of the Sudbury Workers Centre."
"The cost of living will go up regardless, and people are left to suffer because they can’t afford healthy food, or to take sick days to get better."
“The Sudbury Workers Centre’s mission is to improve the lives and working conditions of workers in Sudbury and a living wage is the beginning of those improvements.”
The Living Wage Launch and Panel is free to attend and will be hosted at the Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op Monday from 7-8:30 p.m.
More information on the event and how to register can be found here.
