NDP’s idea of a living wage is a hoax

My mother is a typical employee working retail in a large store.

She has worked in retail her entire life, and she is a hardworking, thoughtful, caring employee.

As of Sept. 30, she had averaged 32 hours per week, and had health benefits.

Her wages were just increased $1.40 per hour to $13.60; she was excited, but realistic.

As of Oct. 1, her hours are cut by eight per week (25 per cent less), and she will now earn $64 per week less, and lose her benefits, as there will be no more full-time employees.

Her friend in a different retail job just had her hours cut by eight hours per week and lost her benefits as well.

My mother wasn’t surprised by this chain of events, it’s predictable.

No one laid off, just less hours, less customer service and no new hiring.

Full-time with benefits now extinct like a dinosaur.

They are all part-time workers now without fixed schedules that allow them to be able to find another part-time job to augment the hours lost.

She cannot pick up another job for more hours, as she doesn’t know when she works week to week, as the schedule always changes.

The expected 11.5-percent pay increase is now a 16.4-per-cent pay decrease.

My mother and her friend now want a pay rollback to Sept. 30.

Things were better back in the good old days of Sept. 30.

So much for the living wage hoax.

Paul Olsen, Calgary