Minimum wage hike a no-brainer
Re Majority support $15 minimum wage, Oct. 19 A $15 minimum wage for Ontario could only mean good things for those currently employed, and those yet to be employed. It could mean the difference between being able to afford healthier, more nutrient-rich foods than low-quality foods or being able to send children on school excursions, and participate in sports teams. With businesses earning increasingly larger revenues every year, even with ridiculous CEO bonuses and salaries, it’s time for them to start paying their fair share. They can afford it. Brad Globe, Whitby
We owe it to the people who are struggling to make ends meet to legislate a living wage. Fifteen dollars might not do it, but it’s a step in the right direction. I don’t believe that a whole lot of businesses will close up shop; they’ll adapt. Australia hasn’t been brought to its knees by mandating decent wages. We won’t either. Sean Moore, Weston
Where do proponents of an increased minimum wage think the money is going to come from? The money to pay these workers, many of whom work in retail and service industries, is going to come from proportionally increased prices in those sectors. This makes the buying power of these individuals pretty much the same as it was. Sure the bigger paycheck looks nice, but the bigger grocery bill doesn’t.
Morley Gunderson shouldn’t be surprised that higher-paid workers object. If I make more than minimum wage, my wage doesn’t increase, but the costs of goods and services still do. My buying power is less. So now it doesn’t help poverty, and it hurts the economy. The political value is non-existent if you take those factors into account. It’s greed and inability to do math that are driving this wage hike movement. Joey Jackson, Niagara Falls
If we’re in an era of temporary contract work, this proposed $15 minimum should be just that, a minimum. Where in this city can you survive earning a maximum of $400 weekly? A rooming house? Sorry, those hovels have been converted to dainty Airbnbs now.
This article just adds more weight for a guaranteed minimum wage for minimum wage workers struggling in this manufactured 21st-century poverty trap. Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough