Editor:
As an initiative of the Canadian Labour Congress, this letter was sent to West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler.
Workers on the frontlines of this pandemic are getting us through this pandemic. We’ve seen how essential these workers are and yet many are working in low-wage, precarious jobs.
To create better jobs and provide essential frontline workers with permanently higher wages, governments must guarantee a living wage for low-wage workers in all jurisdictions.
We are asking the federal government to immediately implement its promised $15 an hour minimum wage.
No one working a full-time job should be living below the poverty line. Low-wage, insecure, part-time jobs are no way to build a better future for Canada.
Setting a nationwide $15 federal minimum wage standard will show leadership and put pressure on the provinces to follow suit. It will also improve the lives of young workers, women, and racialized Canadians.
The time is right to bring decent wages for all of us moving forward together.
Miyuki Shinkai,
Sunshine Coast Labour Council
