Minimum wage not enough for most

VANCOUVER City Council’s recent decision to abandon their status as a Living Wage Employer has brought new attention to a longstanding HEU initiative.

In 2007, the union developed its Living Wage Campaign in response to the B.C. Liberal government’s massive contracting out of health care workers.

More than 8,000 HEU housekeepers and food service workers were fired. Their jobs were privatized with slashed wages (almost by half), no pension plan, minimal benefits, and no union protections.

Contracting out spread across other public employers like universities and civic governments, where cleaning and security services were common targets.

This meant contracted workers, earning minimum wage, worked alongside directly employed unionized workers who still saw decent wages and benefits.

HEU’s message to public institutions was they could not abandon these workers. They must take some responsibility for the wages and working conditions provided by contractors.

What is the living wage?

In B.C., the non-profit Living Wage for Families calculates what a family of two adults working full-time, with two children, needs to earn to afford rental housing, food, transportation, child care, and basic living expenses.

Based on 2022 calculations, this family would need to earn at least $18.98 an hour in parts of the Fraser Valley (the lowest) up to $25.87 on Haida Gwaii. In Metro Vancouver and Victoria, the living wage just over $24 an hour.

The hourly minimum wage in British Columbia climbed to $16.75 on June 1 – more than seven dollars lower than most living wage calculations.

A certified Living Wage Employer pledges to ensure all their employees, including contracted workers, earn enough to live in their community

Living Wage campaign had popular support

HEU members held rallies, organized petitions, and took part in community and labour events to promote the campaign.

In 2009, hospital housekeepers presented the BC Liberals with 15,000 signatures in support of making living wages a condition of any commercial contracts.

Although the health authorities and provincial government never took the pledge, HEU was able to slowly raise the wages of contracted support services workers through numerous rounds of bargaining.

And in 2021, the BC NDP government announced they would reverse the contracting-out of housekeepers and dietary staff in health authority work sites.

B.C. has more than 370 certified Living Wage Employers, including Vancity Credit Union, the cities