The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Families who work for low wages often face impossible choices: buy clothes or heat the house, feed the children or pay the rent. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In BC, the contradiction between a strong economy and growing economic insecurity is especially stark. For five years running, BC has had the highest child poverty rate in Canada. The story of child poverty is very much a story of low wages. More than half of BCÕs poor children live in families where at least one person works full-time all year. Something is not right when families are doing all the right things, yet still struggling to meet basic needs. A living wage is one of the most powerful tools available to address this troubling state of poverty amid plenty. A living wage is not the same as the minimum wage, which is the legal minimum employers must pay. The living wage calls on public and private sector employers to meet a higher test. It reflects what a family needs to bring home, based on the actual costs of living and raising children in a specific community. Living wage movements have been gaining ground over the past 20 years across the US and the UK, and in a number of Canadian cities. In 2004, the Mayor of London responded to broad public pressure by agreeing to annually set an official living wage figure for the capital. All workers employed by the Greater London Authority Ð either directly or on contract Ð are paid at least that amount. A growing number of leading UK corporate employers now see the benefits of paying living wages,. Some of them were reticent at first. But as with other areas of corporate social responsibility, most have found important benefits to becoming a living wage employer: Significant advantages in recruitment and retention, and reduced absenteeism; Higher productivity and morale; and The benefits of being able to market oneself as a living wage employer.
