Minimum wage freeze hurts vulnerable Albertans and economy: AUPE President
EDMONTON – Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk’s plan to freeze the minimum wage will hurt Alberta’s most vulnerable workers and slow the province’s economic recovery, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith said today.
“Freezing the minimum wage at $8.80 an hour while household and transportation costs keep increasing is just going to make life harder for those at the bottom of the income ladder,” said Smith.
Alberta’s minimum wage is $8.80 per hour. Only five provinces and one territory have lower minimum wages. They are: British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Northwest Territories.
The government announced in June 2007 that minimum wage increases would be adjusted based on the average weekly wage, so if Alberta’s average weekly wage increased from one year to the next, the minimum wage increased by the same percentage.
Alberta teachers were recently granted a 5.99-per-cent salary increase based on the Alberta Average Weekly Earnings index. On that basis the minimum wage would have increased to about $9.30 per hour in 2010, had the policy continued.
Noting the well-established link between health and income levels Smith said that keeping the wage artificially low would also cost the health care system.
“It is troubling that the same day this government announced its intention to have more consultation on health care, it unilaterally announced it was freezing the minimum wage, a measure that will have negative health impacts for many Albertans living below the poverty line,” he said.
Smith also took issue with Lukaszuk’s suggestion that keeping wages down would “protect jobs.” Keeping the minimum wage at an artificially low level would actually hurt many businesses, he argued.
“When you freeze wages you freeze the economy,” Smith said.
“If you reduce the amount money a family is left with after they’ve paid the bills, which is what a wage freeze does, you take money out of the economy and hurt businesses across the board,” said Smith.
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For more information, contact:
Guy Smith, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-265-2294 (mobile phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, ASUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (mobile phone)
AUPE Offices can be reached by calling toll free – 1-800-232-7284.