Wages Rising – Ontario Minimum Wage Linked to Inflation

Kathleen Wynne announced a 25 cent increase to the Minimum Wage, putting the base pay at $11.25 for Ontario’s lowest paid workers.  

 

The first thing ACORN members need to know is that while this wage is not high enough to get all of us out of poverty, the minimum wage would not be rising at all if it was not for the campaigning and organizing ACORN and allies in the $14 Now campaign did.  We are proud of the work we did on this front.

 

Secondly, the indexing of the minimum wage (raising it every year to adjust it to the rising cost of living) is a great thing.  It’s like a gift that keeps on giving every year that passes, because of the work that we all did.   

 

But, it is not enough.  We cannot survive on $11.25, and that is why ACORN Canada will be launching our Wages Rising initiative nationally.  Fights for $15 are popping up around the country and ACORN – with deep roots in Metro Vancouver and Halifax – is leading up those campaigns with major labour partners in BC and Nova Scotia.  Living Wage campaigns are upon us here in Toronto, with our friends at the CCPA announcing what a Living Wage needs to be for working people in Toronto to actually afford to raise a family in Toronto (a hint, it’s more than $11.25).  The Federal NDP has a campaign to make a federal minimum wage of $15 for everyone who works on federal property, and you know we are going to be a part of that.  And on and on our Wages Rising campaigns will go.

 

And lastly, we have a message for Kathleen Wynne:  ACORN is not going away, and we will be working on Wages Rising until the Minimum Wage is a Living Wage.