McGUINTY STICKS WORKERS WITH 1997 MINIMUM WAGE
QUEEN'S PARK - NDP Leader Howard Hampton says Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals are sticking Ontario's lowest-paid workers with a 1997minimum wage.
"Dalton
McGuinty's minimum wage is seven years behind the times," Hampton
said.
Today, McGuinty Liberals announced the minimum wage will go up 4.5 per
Cent effective Feb. 1, 2004, to $7.15 an hour from $6.85 an hour. If minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since it was last raised in 1995, it would be $8.03 an hour today. The new minimum wage covers inflation through just 1997.
"The salaries of Ontario's lowest-paid workers shouldn't be stuck in a seven-year time warp," Hampton said. "They should be paid like it's 2003 - not 1997."
Ontario's lowest-paid workers have been under increased financial strain since 1995. Every year, it gets harder for them to make ends meet.
Inflation has soared 20 per cent. Water, fuel and electricity costs are up 30 per cent. Food costs 14 per cent more. And the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment has risen 26 per cent.
Someone
working full-time for McGuinty's minimum wage will still live in poverty.
Latest available Statistics Canada figures set the poverty line at
$18,371 for a single person living in a big city. A person working
40 hours a week, 52 weeks a
year for the McGuinty minimum wage will make just
$14,872.
Hampton says the minimum wage should be raised to $8 immediately or Ontario's lowest-paid workers will continue to fall further behind.
