Minimum18 Coalition Opinion – “Keeping minimum wage workers in poverty: what an appalling choice!”

A graphic released by community groups signifying their call for a minimum wage increase in Quebec.
SFPQ image

As part of the consultations on the draft regulation modifying the minimum wage, the Minimum18$ coalition, of which the SFPQ is a member, is tabling a notice today on the minimum wage in Quebec. The benefits of raising the minimum wage to $18 per hour are too numerous for Labour Minister Jean Boulet to ignore.

The benefits of an $18 minimum wage
From the outset, the members of the Minimum18$ coalition, which brings together a number of union, community and workers’ rights advocates, point out that, according to the main indicators, it takes at least $18 an hour in Quebec for a person working full time to be able to escape poverty.

According to Virginie Larivière, spokesperson for the Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté, “by deciding to raise the minimum wage to a meagre $14.25 an hour on May 1, the government has made a dismaying choice: to keep in poverty hundreds of thousands of workers who earn less than $18 an hour, the majority of whom are women. For a 35-hour week, that’s barely $500… before deductions. How do government members think all these workers can make it to the end of the month to pay their rent and food and take care of their children on that kind of income?”

In addition, the notice presented to Minister Boulet today details the many benefits that an increase in the minimum wage to $18 would have for employers in the current labour market. Employers could save on turnover costs (including training and coaching), improve productivity by having a motivated workforce that performs better, and focus on the quality of production rather than on stabilizing their workforce.

Macroeconomic arguments without merit
The other part of Minimum18’s opinion shows that the macroeconomic arguments put forward by the government to justify a conservative approach to setting the minimum wage are unfounded.

“Why does the government insist on capping the minimum wage at 50% of the average hourly wage? This ratio is exceeded by Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia without the devastation that has been predicted. Various studies have largely played down the impacts predicted by economist Pierre Fortin,” said QFL Secretary General Denis Bolduc.

With inflation reaching record levels, some voices are being raised to denounce the multiplier impact that a substantial increase in the price of food would have.

But Denis Bolduc reminds us that “limiting the increase in the minimum wage is not only the wrong way to approach the problem; it is a way that penalizes those who are hardest hit by the rising prices of basic necessities like food and housing. We must not forget that low-wage workers represent a small fraction of Quebec’s total wage bill: a significant increase in their wages can, by definition, only have a limited impact on prices. Depending on whether one considers the direct effects only or also the indirect effects of an increase to $18 on business costs, prices would vary in a rather limited way with an increase that remains below 1%.

Fighting poverty while stimulating the economy
In the end, the Minimum18 coalition’s advice tends to show that the post-COVID economic recovery context, coupled with a context of labour scarcity and shortages, offers an unhoped-for opportunity to tackle poverty by substantially increasing the minimum wage while stimulating the economy. Already, the coalition points out, many employers in the retail, restaurant and tourism sector, which accounts for a large share of minimum wage workers, have had no choice but to raise their wages to obtain the needed labour.

About the coalition

The Minimum18$ coalition is demanding that the minimum wage be raised to $18 as soon as possible. The organizations that are part of it: APTS, CSN, CSQ, CSD, FTQ, SFPQ, SPGQ, Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté, Front de défense des non-syndiqué-es, Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants (IWC-CTI).