N.L. puts pressure on region's minimum wage

An announcement that Newfoundland and Labrador will increase its minimum wage to $10 an hour over the next 18 months is putting pressure on other governments in the region to respond.

'You put all your bills in a hat, you pick whatever ones you can.' Joey Laybolt, prep cook

At the end of 2008 the four Atlantic provinces had some of the lowest minimum wages in the country. New Brunswick was at the bottom at $7.75; P.E.I., B.C. and Newfoundland and Labrador were second from the bottom at $8; and Nova Scotia rankedslightly higher at $8.10.

On New Year's Day the minimum wage in Newfoundland and Labradorrose to $8.50, starting a march to $10 over the next year and a half.

Joey Laybolt of Charlottetown, a prep cook earning $8.75 an hour, would love to make that much. Even pulling extra shifts, he told CBC News Tuesday, it's not enough to provide for him and his eight-year-old son.

"It's just worrying about what you're going to have to pay next on your next cheque," said Laybolt.

"You put all your bills in a hat, you pick whatever ones you can that you get paid off that month."

The P.E.I. government still hasn't decided whether or by how much to increase the minimum wage in 2009. The Employment Standards Board submitted its annual recommendation to cabinet in November, but its report hasn't been made public.

Living wage needed: council

Groups like the P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women have asked government to take a new approach to minimum wage. They want future increases indexed to the cost of living, but from the starting point of a living wage. Jane Ledwell, a researcher for the council, said $10 an hour may be too high for P.E.I., but $8 is definitely too low.

"The argument is often made that wages on P.E.I. can be lower because our cost of living is lower; it's simply not true," said Ledwell.

The Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce is also asking for the minimum wage to be indexed to the cost of living, but from its present level. The chamber's position is that P.E.I. shouldn't be trying to catch up with provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador, and the minimum wage is not the tool to deal with the overall problem of poverty.

N.B. groups split on need to hike minimum wage

The New Brunswick Federation of Labour is urging the province to follow Newfoundland and Labrador's lead, but an organization representing small businesses in the province said a higher minimum wage would be an unfair burden.

The current minimum wage in New Brunswick is $7.75 an hour, the lowest in the country.

The poverty line for a single parent with one child is roughly $24,000. Michel Boudreau, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, said a person working 40 hours a week at minimum wage falls several thousand dollars short of that.

His group has been pushing for the minimum wage to increase to $10 an hour.

"People should not have to go to the food bank to have food," Boudreau said. "If they work they should have fair pay and they should buy their own [groceries]."

But the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses saida wage hikewould only cripple businesses already struggling in the poor economy.

Andreea Bourgeois, the CFIB's director of provincial affairs in New Brunswick, said helping workers make ends meet should be up to government and not businesses. And she believes there are better ways to help low-income New Brunswickers than simply boosting the wages businesses pay to their employees.

"What is the point of increasing the minimum wage? We want to help the working poor and those living on lower incomes. And the first thing that would help them would be increasing the basic personal [income tax] exemptions," she said.

Bourgeois said a compromise must be found between what workers need and what businesses can afford.