Labour, social leaders plead for higher minimum wage 

January 11, 2007

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Alberta social agencies and unions are calling on political leaders to "take off their rose-coloured glasses" and help families that are missing out on the boom.

They say it's a disgrace that 25% of Albertans are making less than $12 an hour and nearly 70,000 families are living below the poverty line in such a resource-rich province.

"There's a whole population of Albertans for whom the boom is little more than a faint echo," Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan said yesterday. "We think it's long past time our leaders acknowledge the fact that not everyone is sharing in the Alberta Advantage."

He called Alberta's $7 minimum wage "perverse."

A study commissioned by the advocacy organization, Public Interest Alberta, says single minimum-wage earners are taking home less than half the income they need to cover living costs.

But Employment Ministry spokesman Lorelei Fiset-Cassidy said the province is not considering hiking or indexing the province's minimum wage.

She said 97% of Albertans already earn more than minimum wage and Alberta just surpassed Ontario as having the highest average wage at $21 per hour.

But Judy Cook, 50, who makes less than $12 an hour after 14 years at a department store, told the Sun it's a struggle to get by on her income.

"I'm living worse now than I ever did," said Cook, who is renting a one-room basement suite in a friend's house. "I go nowhere and do nothing because I can't afford it. I have friends and family that help me out, but it's very tough."

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Public Interest Alberta executive director, called on the government to adopt policies that ensure that contracts are only awarded to companies that pay "living wages."

The report, written by the Edmonton Social Planning Council, also calls for the minimum wage and funding for social assistance programs to be indexed.

Liberal employment critic Bruce Miller said it's hypocritical that MLAs' salaries are indexed to inflation but not the minimum wage or funding for disabled Albertans or others on social assistance. "I think it's deplorable," he said.

NDP critic David Eggen said the minimum wage should be immediately hiked to $10 per hour.  

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