Time to fight for liveable wage
Show your workers the respect they deserve for the effort you expect.
What will $11.35 get you in Duncan?
Well, if you’re an avid flyer buyer then you might be able to score yourself a salmon fillet (because those fatty acids are excellent for the developing minds of our youth), and if your child isn’t quite on that page yet, then you might also be able to afford a jar of baby food to see the little tyke through to the morning.
Though, of course it isn’t as simple as that. There’s also the cost of cooking that salmon fillet, heating up the baby food, keeping the lights on so nobody chokes on the vigilante salmon bones, or just the cost of getting to and from the grocery store. If you are unfortunate enough to be employed at that grocery store, then chances are you’ve just paid out an entire hour of your life. Let’s multiply that $11.35 (as of Sept. 15) by four, because of course these minimum wage employers need to keep costs down by keeping employee hours down. So Hurrah! You’ve now spent four hours making a decent profit for your conscientious employer and you get to walk away with $45.40; of course this is all before that government who legislates this wage decides it also needs to cut in on your lucrative gig.
Now you can perhaps keep that car on the road so you can keep that lucrative job. If reading all of that hasn’t cause a small hand of indignation to clench your gut, then chances are this letter isn’t directed at you — lucky you. But in Duncan, this is the life of so many people, working for companies that purport to be “community minded”, “family oriented”, and this one always gets me, providing a “competitive wage.” These companies that have so little respect for their “valued employees” that they will literally pay them the lowest legal amount that they can get away with.
So I suggest that it’s time to create a movement among the minimum wage workers and even workers who make a little more — again, lucky you. Because it’s clear that these fat cat politicians we keep electing have no appreciation for the life of a minimum wage earner (except for at election time), and don’t feel obligated to ensure that every worker has a right to a liveable wage. If that clenching hand hasn’t let up yet, I’ve started a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Affordtoeat/) where people can go to vent, talk, and maybe even change this unethical practice that takes advantage of so many families in Cowichan and across this beautiful province of ours.
Nicholas Rambold
Cowichan Bay