[First Lady]

Killer living wages

The newest social justice fad is another sop to unions that has nothing to do with poverty

Peter Shawn Taylor, Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, November 05, 2008

If nothing else, the left has a knack for picking the perfect adjective. Consider fair trade. Who could possibly be against fairness? If you're against fair trade, it stands to reason you must be in favour of unfair trade. The same tricky modifiers are at work with universal daycare, social justice, progressive politics and the latest up-and-coming dangerous idea, the living wage.

What's the opposite of a living wage? Presumably a death wage. Although a freely-negotiated-in-the-labour-market wage would be more accurate.

Starting in Baltimore in 1994, about 140 American cities have adopted living wage policies. The argument is as follows: Minimum wage is insufficient to support a family, so cities calculate a new wage rate they figure is enough to live on -- typically 50% or more above the prescribed minimum. Since municipalities lack the legislative power to force such a wage on their entire local economy, living wage laws only apply to municipal employees, contractors doing business with the city and businesses or non-profits that receive municipal subsidies. It's a small but significant chunk of the local workforce.

But what began as a desperate and controversial move by troubled American cities to stem poverty in their blighted urban cores now appears on its way to becoming a social policy affectation for some of Canada's richest cities.

Calgary is on track to be the first. A $13.25 per hour living wage (Alberta minimum wage: $8.40) comes before city council in January or February for final approval. The Regional Municipality of Waterloo in southwestern Ontario will consider its own initial proposal for a $13.62 living wage (Ontario minimum wage: $8.75) in October. And tiny Pelham, Ont., near Niagara Falls, also has a living wage proposal before its town council. All these municipalities, it should be noted, are marked by relatively high incomes.

Continued:
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_p...html?id=933685

Another fine example of where our municipal tax hike will be going.....