City of Thunder Bay holds off joining Living Wage Campaign

Thunder Bay city council decided on Monday night to accept the advice of city administration and hold off on enrolling the city in the Thunder Bay Living Wage Campaign.

The campaign, promoted by the Lakehead Social Planning Council, asks employers to commit to paying all employees and contractors a wage deemed sufficient to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community.

Currently, the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) has determined that theliving wage in the Thunder Bay region is$16.30 per hour, according to a memo to council from city manager Norm Gale.

Council instead passed a motion to include the living wage information in the data that informs its decisions on wage increases, particularly as they apply to non-union employees who currently earn below the living wage.

Nearly 300 city employees earn less than the living wage

"When I read the report, I noticed there are only three cities in Ontario who had this:Cambridge, Kingston and North Perth, out of what, 444 municipalities, which put a red flag up for me," said Coun. Brian McKinnon, during the brief discussion of the living wage at Monday's council meeting.

"I like the concept of looking at this and getting more detailed information before we approve this."

City administration had advised against joining the campaign saying that, although its current full-time employees all earn at or above the living wage, there would be cost implications down the road.

Employers who sign on to the campaign are required to develop a plan to raise the wages of all part-time and contract employees to at or above the living wage, according to Gale's memo.

"The determination of wage rates for some groups of employees would be outside of the employer's control, and at some point the city may not agree with the living wage rate established by the OLWN. Should circumstances change in the future, the city could be in the difficult position of withdrawing from the campaign," it said.

City projects cost at more than half a million

The City of Thunder Bay currently has 289 employees who earn less than $16.30 perhour, many of whom work in the recreation and culture division as lifeguards, facilities attendantsand crossing guards,the memo said.

In total, 38 job classifications pay less than a living wage including summer camp counselors, tour guides and ride operators at Chippewa Park and the precise number of people employed in them fluctuates throughout the year, due to seasonal programming.

The city estimated the cost of bringing all part-time, casual and relief employees up to the living wage to be $584,156, according to the memo.

"The costs of contracted services such as custodial cleaning, security and catering would increase as contractors would build the cost of increased wages into the procurement process," it said.

Seven Thunder Bay area employers have joined the living wage campaign so far, according to the memo: the Lakehead Social Planning Council, Kinna-Awaya Legal Clinic, Wequedong Lodge, Nalu, Roots to Harvest, Itec 2000 and Telstar Motel.

Living wage employer says she has less turnover, happier employees

"For us, it was a really easy decision, because we were already paying our employees that wage," Telstar co-owner Kelsey Shaffer Patterson told CBC.

"We feel that if people are going to work for us and contribute to our business, thenof coursethey deserve to make enough money to get by."

Paying people a living wage has led to less turnover, happier employees and better job performance, Patterson said.

"It's paid for itself, in my opinion."

The executive director of Wequedong Lodge also said that meeting the requirements of the campaign required "minimal investment."

"I did think it was important that we do that,"Donna Kroocmo said."So that everyone would know, you know, that Wequedong believes in providing their employees with a living wage."