Wage-hike critics should be ashamed

Re Critics decry labour reforms and Low-wage families face tough choices, Aug.

15 I felt compelled to comment after reading about the jarring reality of low-wage families. It is sad to think of families who are working hard to make an impossible wage stretch far enough, while the rich just get richer.

The growing and incredible gap between rich and poor in Ontario should give us all pause. The critics who are whining about the proposed labour reforms and increased minimum wage should feel ashamed. They should try walking a month in the shoes of the people quoted in this article.

Critics claim the $15 minimum wage will cost the average Ontario household about $1,300 per year. I, for one, would be glad to support my community in this way, if it means these families no longer have to choose between bare necessities each month and whether their children can go back to school with proper supplies and clothes.

Somewhere along this disastrous road, where the rich get richer and the poor are cast aside, we have lost our compassion. Pam Tomasevic, Mississauga

The suggestion by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Keep Ontario Working coalition that a $15-per-hour minimum wage would eliminate jobs and raise costs for households is misguided scaremongering.

Their report claims the wage hike “raises the possibility that 185,000 lowwage jobs could disappear in the next two years,” as human beings are replaced by self-checkout kiosks and other robots.

But contrary to this claim, research in the United Kingdom and Australia has found that the use of kiosks in fast-food restaurants has not resulted in a net loss of employment, as these businesses needed to hire new employees to meet increased consumer demand, prevent vandalism and deliver food to tables. Giles Hodge, Ottawa