Minimum Wage is Still Too Low

We, the undersigned, believe that Ontario’s minimum wage at $8.75 an hour is still too low. Minimum wage should be raised up to $10.

About 200,000 in Ontario alone, earn minimum wage while 1.2 million earn less than $10 an hour. Many struggling, minimum wage parents are forced to have more than one job. According to New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo, “The poverty line right now is $10.25,” yet many people earn below that. Although minimum wage is slowly increasing, it is not being increased fast enough to help people through the recession and inflation. Due to inflation, the increase in minimum wage is not helping people below the poverty line. It is not being increased fast enough to adjust to inflation.

In 2005, there are 587 000 people working below minimum wage. In 2008, about 5.8 million people are trying to earn an annual salary of $17 000 and supporting a family on top of that. Visible minorities, women, workers with disabilities, part time workers, those with less than a high school diploma and recent immigrants are all suffering and earning even less than minimum wage.

Low wage workers who work form paycheque to paycheque with no job security and are usually undertrained, under respected, and are stuck in dead-end jobs. They are on the margin line of being in heavy debt.

We, as the general public, would want low-wage workers to have equal treatments as higher-wage workers, such as: healthcare, paid sick days, paid breaks and other benefits.

We strongly urge that, as the leader of this country, something should be done to increase minimum wage fast and to keep people above the poverty line.