[Frost__2001]

Ont. says minimum wage hike is last one for while
Feb. 1, 2007.
Canadian Press

TORONTO — Thursday's 25-cent raise in Ontario's minimum wage is the last one workers can expect for the foreseeable future, Labour Minister Steve Peters said Wednesday as critics continued to call for a "real living wage.''

Peters said he's proud the Liberal government fulfilled its election promise to raise the minimum wage to $8 an hour while not hurting businesses.

"Ontario did not see a raise in the minimum wage for nine years, and we campaigned in 2003 (saying) we would be moving the minimum wage,'' he said.

"The minimum wage has been phased in over a four-year period, from $6.85 an hour to $8 an hour. This is an increase of 17 per cent in the minimum wage for Ontario workers.''

There are no planned minimum wage hikes on the horizon, and the government will now sit down to discuss future increases. Peters said the government wants to give businesses time to plan and prepare for a raise in payrolls, so any increases wouldn't come overnight.

Ontario New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton called the 25-cent increase "far too low,'' and said a more appropriate minimum wage would be $10 an hour.

"It's better than not going up by 25 cents but it still doesn't address the real issue: the minimum wage in Ontario is not a living wage,'' Hampton said.

"You cannot pay the rent, you cannot put food on the table, and you cannot look after your family working for minimum wage. We need at least a $10-an-hour minimum wage for people to be able to do that -- to put food on the table, pay the rent and look after themselves.''

But Peters said the minimum wage increase makes Ontario's employers among the highest-paying in the country, trailing only the territories, where workers in Nunavut get a minimum of $8.50 an hour, and those in the Northwest Territories and Yukon get $8.25. The rate is also $8 an hour in British Columbia -- and will be later this year in Manitoba and Quebec -- while the national low is $7 in Alberta, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara has said the province's economy could not absorb an immediate $2 hourly hike for the estimated 200,000 Ontario residents currently earning the minimum wage. About 1.2 million people in Ontario earn less than $10 an hour.

Sorbara has noted that almost two-thirds of those earning minimum wage in Ontario are young people who still live at home with their parents, so another increase would not specifically target the working poor.

Hampton argued that a $2 increase to the minimum wage makes fiscal sense, since people at the low end of the pay scale would be spending the extra money in their communities and helping the economy.

"People who work for the minimum wage don't get their paycheque and then take a Caribbean holiday, they don't get their paycheque and invest half of it in an American mutual fund, they don't spend it on an expensive foreign car,'' Hampton said.

"They spend virtually all of their disposal income virtually immediately in the local community, which helps to generate more economic activity.''

But Peters said a $2 hike in the minimum wage is unrealistic, and he doubts the NDP would follow through with it if they were in power.

"When you look at the past history in this province, governments of all stripes have taken a phased approach to raising the minimum wage,'' Peters said.

"There has never been a substantive $2-an-hour increase.''

"The NDP may choose to make this an election issue, but I think they need to look at their own record of how they approached it.''

[NikiterZTS]

Thank God i went to college.........some what....

[NOS2Go4Me]

If you're honestly trying to raise a family on $8.00/hr, you're either horribly misguided (and well-intentioned) or you're the dumbest SOB I've ever heard of.

Most folks can be helped to understand that they can get beyond a minimum wage job. Hell, welfare will subsidize your monthly wages to ensure that you and your family DON'T starve.

Grants and busaries are available to get folks through school with low overhead costs and distance / night courses are generally available for most colleges and universities these days.

It's one thing to be stuck in a minimum-wage job and to be actively looking for better options. It's another to sit there in that job while living in geared-to-income housing and bitching. I've seen it done many times. Those people get s*** all from me in terms of symapthy.

[NikiterZTS]

i honestly think people should finish school (college/university) to get some good pay after they are done
don't get me wrong i know some people in my life who made it there without any schooling....but i can count them on my 2 hands....so it comes down to that you need the education to get a good car,house, put kids through college

i was makin almost $8 an hour when i was in high school as a part time employer....these kind of money would never get me my focus or mods or other basic things in my life
go out there get some courses done or just keep upgrading your education

[microbunny]

Sweet...what a great day@@@

its like a promotion for doing nothing...

I RULE!!!!

[PARKINGLOT]

I only went to college one year, but I went to a technical school instead, I'm glad I did....only making $8 blows....

[NikiterZTS]

PARKINGLOT,Feb 1 2007, 11:03 AM Wrote:I only went to college one year, but I went to a technical school instead, I'm glad I did....only making $8 blows....
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yea i never even end up finishing my first year...and i got pretty good pay job still..
education def. pays off

[Frost__2001]

hmm I like this quote but I hate how or Premier didn't give a date on when.. or how long we have to wait for $10/hr to be set up.

Quote:McGuinty says minimum wage will reach $10/hour
Canadian Press

BURLINGTON, Ont. — Premier Dalton McGuinty says it's only a matter of time before Ontario's minimum wage reaches $10 an hour.

McGuinty says he campaigned in 2003 on getting the minimum wage to $8, and he's made that happen.

He says the minimum wage will go up again eventually, but it'll happen through steady, gradual increases.

McGuinty says the government needs to strike a balance between the needs of Ontario's low-income workers and the economy so that jobs aren't compromised.

The minimum wage went up by 25 cents today from $7.75.

Ontario's new rate is soon to be matched in Manitoba and Quebec, but still lags behind Nunavut's $8.50 an hour, and the $8.25 minimum wage in the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

[D-Dub]

I went to college and got offered a job a year and half into the program.............should have never left cause now I have no paper...........and my Job is starting to piss me off.

[NOS2Go4Me]

^^ that makes for a rough road... money now or more money later.

Can't you go back and finish them off at night or via "distance" learning?

[NikiterZTS]

D-Dub,Feb 1 2007, 02: Wrote:I went to college and got offered a job a year and half into the program.............should have never left cause now I have no paper...........and my Job is starting to piss me off.
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dude that what exectly happened to me...
i so wanna go back and finish....cuz everywhere i apply now they always ask for college diploma

[NefCanuck]

NOS2Go4Me,Feb 1 2007, 09:29 AM Wrote:If you're honestly trying to raise a family on $8.00/hr, you're either horribly misguided (and well-intentioned) or you're the dumbest SOB I've ever heard of.

Most folks can be helped to understand that they can get beyond a minimum wage job. Hell, welfare will subsidize your monthly wages to ensure that you and your family DON'T starve.

Grants and busaries are available to get folks through school with low overhead costs and distance / night courses are generally available for most colleges and universities these days.

It's one thing to be stuck in a minimum-wage job and to be actively looking for better options. It's another to sit there in that job while living in geared-to-income housing and bitching. I've seen it done many times. Those people get s*** all from me in terms of symapthy.
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Gotta call you on this one...

Here's a real life reason why you can get stuck doing minimum wage jobs, staying one paycheque away from disaster.

Imagine you're a single parent, how the hell can you afford to take any time away from earning at your minimum wage job to upgrade your skills to get a better job? Or better yet you might suggest, work two minimum wage jobs?

Try finding a daycare spot, most daycares that people can afford have waiting lists long enough for the kid to get their driver license before a spot ever opens up :rolleyes:

Hell, even a single person working solo, try working a 40 hour week (which is likely te rule & not the exception in min wage work that's f/t) and then try to do any sort of courses.

and don't even get me started on the cost of renting a place, in Mississauga getting a place that isn't a roach motel means spending at minimum $800/m which a huge chunk out of the net take home pay. Rent Geared to Income housing? Pfft, in Peel you have a higher chance of winning the lottery than getting a place.

NefCanuck

[ZX5chica]

NOS2Go4Me,Feb 1 2007, 09:29 AM Wrote:Grants and busaries are available to get folks through school with low overhead costs and distance / night courses are generally available for most colleges and universities these days.

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Beg to differ on that... the OSAP program that is in effect won't meet the requirements in terms of financial support for students these days, and that's if you're even eligible for the program.

The Ontario Government needs to come up with a solution to the problem of student debt, rather than just throwing out random band-aids, hoping that one of them will fit, or that people will just stop complaining.

This rise in minimum wage, although it's a step in the right direction, is not the be-all and end-all solution to low wage-earners in Ontario

[Frost__2001]

NefCanuck,Feb 2 2007, 12:30 PM Wrote:and don't even get me started on the cost of renting a place, in Mississauga getting a place that isn't a roach motel means spending at minimum $800/m which a huge chunk out of the net take home pay.  Rent Geared to Income housing? Pfft, in Peel you have a higher chance of winning the lottery than getting a place.

NefCanuck
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yeah Nef's Right, when I was work at Tim's, I was making just under $10 and it was hard then too, and in Brampton it's more so worse to find a place as a tiny one bedroom in the $600 a month range usually an illegal basement appartment with usually no parking space, dealing with crooked indian landlords, plus you have to pay for 50% or more for the utilitys (not including your own phone cable & internet), be a non-smoker, forbidden from owning any pets, plus credit checks, and most would lock you out of your appartment if you were 5 days or more late with all the rent.

[D-Dub]

See I was working part time at a wood shop and then one day I heard the head CNC operator was leaving in the next couple of months. Since I was in school for computers and I knew programing I was asked to take over. For 1 month I ran the machine blind because the operator wasnt sure if he was going to leave, then I went on a week leave of absance because of family problems and I found out he quit.

Fourty peoples jobs depend on the machine running, and nobody but me knows how to turn it on and set up the programs to be run on the machine. I learned the CNC code for that machine(every CNC is different), mastercam and how to repair/change parts on the manchine........in 1 month. Then the more problems started; the women that was making the programs stoped making them, because she went on maternaty leave, my shop manger... quit, both in the same month. Soooooooo I became the Operator/Programer/Shop Manager. It took them 2 months to find a programer and we have no shop manager still. To top it off ,I have to modify every single program comming out of the office. Hey It really f***in sucks and what I thought was a great job turned into the job from hell, but I could'nt forsee the problems and they happend so fast. As for finishing the program in night school ........not a chance. I cant even move at the end of the day and my brain is so exhusted from crunching numbers and visualizing that I have blured vision and vertigo. I planned on going to university for part time, but realized it would be a waste of money. I mean f***, anyone thats reading this and is thinking of taking that job without finishing school, think of my post. Im screwed because I dont have enough experiance to find another job in my field and I dont have a diploma . Sure the money is good, but my health is more important, plus I dont see myself doing this any longer and thats why I am going back to school in September.

10 pff I was making 12 part-time when I was in school and I still couldnt afford the needs.