THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Social Planning Council is challenging employers to go above and beyond the minimum wage to ensure workers have what it takes to get by.
A sixth employer, Wequedong Lodge, recently joined the group’s living wage campaign, pledging to pay all employees a “living wage” of $16.21 an hour.
That threshold, nearly two dollars above Ontario’s $14.25 minimum wage, is calculated based on the local cost of living for a family of four with two parents working full-time.
“What that amount does is allow every person in the family to meet their social determinants of health,” explained Bonnie Krysowaty, the LSPC’s poverty reduction strategy coordinator.
About 15 per cent of Thunder Bay’s population currently earns less than the low-income measure of $24,000 a year for a single person, she noted.
The LSPC works with the Ontario Living Wage Network and university researchers to calculate a local living wage, considering factors like the cost of food, childcare, rent or mortgage, a bus pass or car payments, and insurance.
The consideration of those local factors suggests a living wage in Toronto is $22.08 an hour, while only $16.21 in Thunder Bay.
The LSPC is putting a renewed focus on the campaign, with the pandemic highlighting inequalities and the unheralded importance of low-wage workers.
“Through COVID, a lot of businesses – and just the general public – have realized the importance of employees, especially low paid employees, and the value they have to our society,” Krysowaty said.
The social planning council is hoping that growing recognition of that value will translate to action, with employers and society taking better care of low wage workers.
That should start with a living wage that allows all workers to fully meet their needs – a policy the group argues has a multitude of spill-over benefits for society.
“When everyone is able to meet the social determinants of health, and people are brought out of poverty, a lot more money is put into the economy,” said Krysowaty. “So it serves us all well.”
“There are so many benefits, especially for employers. We find living wage employers have a lot less turnover, their employees experience much more satisfaction with their careers, and better relationships between management and staff.”
Wequedong Lodge executive director Donna Kroocmo said her organization had always sought to pay above minimum wage, and joining the living wage campaign was a natural step.
“It’s really important to us that everybody who works at Wequedong Lodge is provided with a living wage, and that they’re not living in poverty,” she said.
The organization would only have to boost its lowest salaries by around 20 cents to meet the living wage commitment, she said.
Joining as a champion member of the campaign, Wequedong Lodge would also commit to asking contractors about their own living wage policies, hoping to achieve a “mushrooming effect.”
Moving into the new year, Krysowaty said the LSPC would be approaching larger employers in hopes of growing the living wage campaign locally.