[Harvey Specter]

http://www.news1130.com/images/2009/08/McD's.jpg

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Protesters hit the front lawn of the legislature today to demand a higher minimum wage in B.C. -- effective September 1st, it will be the lowest in Canada.

News1130 took the hot button issue to the streets of Vancouver and most people we spoke with at Cambie Street and Broadway were in favour of a higher minimum wage. "Absolutely, that's ridiculous because we also have the highest cost of living in Canada as well... I would say $10 an hour." However, a few people were against a hike in the wage because it may hurt our province's economic recovery.

B.C. and New Brunswick used to be tied for the lowest minimum wage in Canada at $8 an hour, but as of Tuesday New Brunswick goes to $8.25 and that province has a 34 per cent lower cost of living.

[StylinRed]

In all honesty the minimum wage should be lower than $8, there's no way to compete with other countries if we keep raising the min wage

but thats gotta suck u work for 1hr and u can afford 1 happy meal

[johny]

what? I'd swear some of the eastern provs were like $6.

[cobra_commander]

what? I'd swear some of the eastern provs were like $6.

back in 96'

[Vansterdam]

wow bcs getting fucked nicely

[Eastwood]

Who cares. I doubt anyone here even works for minimum wage. I haven't worked for minimum wage since I was 16. The only people it effects are teenage employees new to the work force.

[keifun]

Even if we got the lowest minimum wage, Im sure there are lots of entry level jobs that pay more than $8/hr. Even some fast food places and grocery stores that hire young high schoolers pay around $9-10/hr.

[RRxtar]

Who cares. I doubt anyone here even works for minimum wage. I haven't worked for minimum wage since I was 16. The only people it effects are teenage employees new to the work force.
+1

[MG1]

Well, I have kids who work and go to school. It's kind of tough for them, but what the hell. It's not like I had it any easier........... haha.

Students don't have to pay much in the way of taxes, either. However, having the lowest minimum wage in the whole country is not cool, because we have the highest cost of living here.

[carisear]

having a low min wage actually helps imo ... when people work a low paying job, they get motivated to NEVER work it again.

i know i worked min wage when i was younger. it sucked.

[StylinRed]

Well, I have kids who work and go to school. It's kind of tough for them, but what the hell. It's not like I had it any easier........... haha.


ouch wheres the love? :haha:

[twitchyzero]

Dont get why minimum wage is $8. I thought it's $6?

dont they still pay $6.50 at mcdicks for your first 500 hour?

I slaved away ~100 hours of my life at that rate

those fucking cheapasses... hope those corporate guys get McAngina.

[mickz]

Dont get why minimum wage is $8. I thought it's $6?

dont they still pay $6.50 at mcdicks for your first 500 hour?

I slaved away ~100 hours of my life at that rate

those fucking cheapasses... hope those corporate guys get McAngina.

$6.50 is the "training wage." I got that bullshit when I started but my friends who got hired at other locations started at $8.

[GoateeMe]

my girlfriends mom makes minmum wage working at the mall

[ajax]

$6.50 is the "training wage." I got that bullshit when I started but my friends who got hired at other locations started at $8.

I worked at McDonalds for a week one summer at $6.50. Needless to say I was a $9 Dolla Balla the next week at a different and much easier job.

[3seriesBeeM]

I think the cost of living should follow suit if your going to have such a high cost of living you should have it so people can afford to live here

[skiiipi]

raising the minimum wage will simply cause less jobs avaliable.

a big part of retail and service industry relies on the $8/hr high school workers to staff their work force. If the cost of employing these people were to go up, then the number of hours they have to use will go down which will mean less people will have jobs.

minimum wage is just tat, a minimum...if you have any skills or exp you will not be affected by the min wage.

[BNR32_Coupe]

raising the minimum wage will simply cause less jobs avaliable.

a big part of retail and service industry relies on the $8/hr high school workers to staff their work force. If the cost of employing these people were to go up, then the number of hours they have to use will go down which will mean less people will have jobs.

minimum wage is just tat, a minimum...if you have any skills or exp you will not be affected by the min wage.

Whoa.. didn't expect somebody to actually think and make sense for a sec there. c-c-c-combo breaker-r-r

[StealthFighter]

Higher minimum wage isn't good for employment. If a Mcdonalds has say $1600 a day to pay for employees. The wage is 8 bucks. That's 200 work hours per day. Lets say McDonalds is open 16 hours a day. 8 hour shifts per worker. So $800 for each shift. If each worker gets paid minimum wage they can put a bit more than 16 workers on duty.

Next scenario, but minimum wage is $10. They can only put 10 workers on for each shift. So that means they have to lay off 12(6 on each shift) people at each Mcdonalds because the minimum wage goes up. Imagine this all across BC.

The one way employers can hire more employees is if they bring in more business. The problem is, there is less people employed, so unemployed people don't want to go out spending. The restaurant can't deal with only 10 employees per shift, so they have to cut back on other things(ex. ingredients, sanitation) The restaurant can put the cost on consumers by increasing prices.

Places operating on a razor thin profit will not be able to hire more workers, then become unable to compete because of lack of service from overworked employees. Bye bye.

Ok say BC has a higher min wage than alberta, so people from alberta want to move out to BC? not really, because why would they move out here with the higher housing prices and to make minimum wage?




To end this: the kid making my burgers should keep making minimum wages

I'm not gonna say that I'm 100% right, if anyone wants to show me that minimum wage increases is good, i'm more than open to discuss.

[slammer111]

You gotta keep min wage low. Raising the bar to be honest is just going to raise prices everywhere since everyone now "has more money" and not everyone is *just* trying to make ends meet. Most people making minimum wage are kids who live at home and spend all their money on chips and video games.

And yes, it kills off a lot of smaller businesses. Not everyone out there makes as much as McDonalds.

[goo3]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Wage_labour.jpg

[Gnomes]

having a low min wage actually helps imo ... when people work a low paying job, they get motivated to NEVER work it again.

i know i worked min wage when i was younger. it sucked.

I agree. I swore I would never work at playland ever again. Compared to what I do today, my job is physically easier and much higher pay :)

[!SG]

considering the age demographics of RS is 15-35, i think there is a large chunk portion here of teens that ARE working at minimum...

Who cares. I doubt anyone here even works for minimum wage. I haven't worked for minimum wage since I was 16. The only people it effects are teenage employees new to the work force.

[MG1]

considering the age demographics of RS is 15-35, i think there is a large chunk portion here of teens that ARE working at minimum...

What! There are underaged children on this site? :)

Accessing the NSFW threads? No wAnder RS is so popular. :D

Damn, I wish RS was around when I was a kid. No need to sneak around looking for pics of neked women.

[Carl Johnson]

I love how everyone is saying raising the minimum wage is going to make business layoff more people to offset the increase in their expenses thus damage our economy. But my take is if consumers are getting paid more than they will have more money in their pocket to spend thus the multiplier effect comes into play.

Also looking at the core CPI which tracks most consumer goods' prices excluding energy rose 1.8% in the month of July. If BC is the best place on earth, it certainly isn't the best place to find a entry-level job with reasonable pay.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

working minimum wage stinks, but it doesnt really affect me. havent got a minimum job since i was 16

[cho]

i always thought min was 9

we've been hiring everyone at 9

... the more you know

[fliptuner]

Damn, I wish RS was around when I was a kid. No need to sneak around looking for pics of neked women.

The longer I'm on RS, the more I agree with 89blkcivic. WTF??? :p
Yeah, back in the day, if we wanted to spank it and there was no access to your dad's or your friend's dad's porn, we had to rely on Sears catalogs and a lot of imagination............ :D

We're still at $8 an hour? Fuck, I used to make that at KFC .......... in 1992!?!? Then again when I started working, min. wage was like $3.50. You worked an 8 hour shift and got paid for 8 hours - including breaks.

Minimum wage should at least keep up with the cost of living.

[ZhangFei]

this is encouraging kids have "hustles" on the side..... :D

The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fucks Everyone

[Ronin]

If you got zilch for skills, then you get minimum wage.

If you want more than minimum wage...GO TO FUCKING SCHOOL. Don't complain about minimum wage being too goddamn low.

[SkinnyPupp]

Holy shit, minimum wage is $8? How do these smaller businesses stay alive?

[Ducdesmo]

I like the Herrow Kitty poster on the wall..

[!Yaminashi]

I like the Herrow Kitty poster on the wall..

Thats not a wall, its a window?

[twitchyzero]

Holy shit, minimum wage is $8? How do these smaller businesses stay alive?

What's minimum wage in HK?

I think the Mcds in Taiwan they still pay $3CAD/hr lol

[unit]

minimum wage in korea is around $3 as well.
students in korea rarely work, they just study study study till they get a real job.

[Preemo]

Man, this topic has so many roots, it stems into everything. Min. wage should be on par with the cost of living. If not, then what? More homelessness? More welfare? More debt?
It's not as easy as lowering or raising the min. wage because if you do one or the other, something else has got to give.

If the cost of living is $8.00/hr then that's the way it should be. But if it isn't then hike it or lower it. But it's just that ... a minimum wage. I rarely see jobs being posted at $8/hr and when I do, it's for people who want to paint houses or some brain dead job anyways.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

Thats not a wall, its a window?

to the windowwwww, to the walllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll






most expensive city to live in, lowest minimum wage

ironic

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

minimum wage in korea is around $3 as well.
students in korea rarely work, they just study study study till they get a real job.



real prostitution

[winson604]

Like others have said it doesn't affect me haha. I haven't even ever worked for minimum wage before. Pretty much the first job I ever had started at $15 fuck $8.

[EuroTRASH]

I agree fully w/ all the comments against a higher minimum wage

min wage goes up, price of everything goes up
so who really gets fucked is the people who went to school or worked their way up through a company to get better pay

my pay doesn't go up if the min wage goes up, so fuck'em

[ilvtofu]

^lol same, what's wrong with $8/hour anyways? Those flip kids who work there all have nicer phones/shoes than me!

[shenmecar]

Reality is "Dont work for Asians". They WILL pay you minimum wage, whatever minimum wage is set at. Thats why i work for the whiteman and my first job was $16.5. Whereas my friends worked at Daiso in Aberdeen and got $6.50.

Dont raise minimum wage. There are just as many jobs that pay more than it compared to jobs that pay minimum. It depends on the person to find those higher paying jobs. Survival of the fittest motherfuckers!

[achiam]

Who cares. I doubt anyone here even works for minimum wage. I haven't worked for minimum wage since I was 16. The only people it effects are teenage employees new to the work force.

Exactly. Even without any post-sec education, I really can't see anyone over 18 making minimum wage.

I guess their point is that if the minimum wage is increased, then as a standard everyone else's wage would be increased at the same linear rate?

[TRDood]

in many other countries, there's no minimum wage.

we are lucky here already.

[Mananetwork]

What kind of cost of living do teenagers have anyway? Everything is provided by their parents!

No minimum wage hike!

[hotjoint]

I've never worked a minimum paying job even when I applied for my first one. There's tons of jobs out there that pay atleast $10 starting.

[ZhangFei]

Holy shit, minimum wage is $8? How do these smaller businesses stay alive?

by outsourcing to india and china

[skyxx]

Most employers don't pay minimum wage anyway. Most usually pay 9/10 dollars as starting for common jobs. If you want a higher pay then go to Alberta, Mcdonalds is hiring people for 14-16 dollars an hour. Increase in pay will result in increase of products being sold etc etc. :) Oh and as for "working for asians", most of them do under table dealings, no tax or whatever.

[shenmecar]

in many other countries, there's no minimum wage.

we are lucky here already.

You mean countries in Asia? That's why a lot of things are outsourced there. Cheap labour FTW!

[Durrann1984]

If you got zilch for skills, then you get minimum wage.

If you want more than minimum wage...GO TO FUCKING SCHOOL. Don't complain about minimum wage being too goddamn low.

some ppl cant afford school maybe?

[q0192837465]

^yea man, no way someone working min wage can afford University. You really need ur parents' help if u just wanna be at par w/ people around u. U can't really kick ur son out the door at 18 & hope he'll make it. Chances are, there will be 1 more person on the street.

[CorneringArtist]

What kind of cost of living do teenagers have anyway? Everything is provided by their parents!

No minimum wage hike!

Not for me. If I want my car when I get my N next month or something expensive , I have to pay for a larger percentage of it or use the little bit of savings I have to pay for it since I'm in a single-parent family with two kids.

It's extremely difficult for me to find a job that's worth working for minimum wage, I tried mcdicks and I did my training the first week I got hired and never heard from them again (made a grand total of maybe 90 dollars in the 3 months I was "officially" employed by them). That's why I'd rather work in a grocery store (a friend told me that Pricesmart is unionized and she gets over minimum wage), anything thats more labor than sales or trying to detail cars.

I'm going to go to BCIT or Kwantlen to do the Auto Tech courses. Sure the apprentice wages are shit in the beginning, but it sure beats having to do retail.

Personally, a bit of a raise in minimum wage might help, but the fact that the government is fucking people eight ways from Sunday right now, that's just a pipe dream.

[Chuck Norris]

I'm not really sure why I'm posting here but BC has some serious problems, minimum wage is one of many.

It is very true that while the concept of minimum wage going up seems like a step in the right direction, there are other factors to consider.

One, we are in a mild recession here in BC and like it or not, the odds of it becoming worse are higher than it improving. Raising minimum wage will likely cause more workers to be laid off as companies are either unable to or unwilling to pay additional funds.

If you have a job at $12 right now, and a minimum wage worker is getting paid $8, you make $4 more than them. Perhaps your job is deserving of this $4 premium. Now lets say minimum wage goes to $10. You're wage is now $12. Now your specialized skills are being valued as 'less'.

Aside from minimum wage, the incomes or earning potential of professionals in Vancouver are very grossly proportioned. A construction worker in Vancouver can make $60,000 a year or more if they put in overtime. A doctor with 10 years of school makes an average of $160,000 a year.

Taxes are very high in BC to add to all this.

Take the US, where a doctor can earn $300,000 a year and pay less tax. A construction working would have a very hard time getting to $60,000 in the US.

There are other countries in other parts of the world that favor professional careers however this is one example.

The biggest problem of all is that the cost of living in Vancouver ratio to income is very scary. Another scary thing is that compared to inflation, wages have actually declined over the last 30 years.

I would rather see the cost of living decline in the city and leave wages right where they are. I think there is a good chance we will see that. The only other way is if foreign buyers and grow-op owners continue to prop the market.

[CorneringArtist]

Taxes are very high in BC to add to all this.


This will only get worse come next year. HST may have some benefits, but I have a feeling that the cost of living will go up when it kicks in.

[Hondaracer]

2 days ago me and 3 friends went into the Mcdonalds across from North Surrey highschool and all ordered, there were no people in front of us, and we all had reasonable orders, mostly just burgers without even fries or drinks

it took 4 people who had 1 car at the drivethrough just under 10 minutes to get 2/3 orders out to us, and it took the cashier 3 minutes to get me my drink [the only thing i ordered] because she was standing at the pass bar thing waiting for somone elses burger


people in these places dont deserve $10/hour.

[antonito]

In all honesty the minimum wage should be lower than $8, there's no way to compete with other countries if we keep raising the min wage

Instead of lowering our wages, why not stop competing with countries whose cost of living is pennies on the dollar compared to ours.

Oh, right, free market, gotta have those I-Pods

Who cares. I doubt anyone here even works for minimum wage. I haven't worked for minimum wage since I was 16. The only people it effects are teenage employees new to the work force.

Yeah, just teenagers. Oh and newly arrived immigrants. And seniors whose pensions are fucked.

You know, the people least able to actually bootstrap themselves to a higher paying job in the near future. But fuck them, right?

[SkinnyPupp]

What's minimum wage in HK?

I think the Mcds in Taiwan they still pay $3CAD/hr lol
There is currently no minimum wage in HK, although they just passed a bill to introduce one. Maids do have a minimum wage though. They better keep it low, because a lot of people rely on low wages to keep prices of related goods and services low.

[goo3]

Yeah, just teenagers. Oh and newly arrived immigrants. And seniors whose pensions are fucked.

You know, the people least able to actually bootstrap themselves to a higher paying job in the near future. But fuck them, right?

OTOH if you set the min wage too high, you're screwing the youth with no or little experience because they're now competing at a higher price point with ppl who are more employable. Not only that, some of the previously low paying jobs @ their price point will be eliminated.

[falcon]

Over my 3 jobs I had in HS, not once did I get min. wage. All the jobs were above $9. You're an idiot to take minimum wage job when there are many other jobs out there.

Like many people here are saying. You don't want min. wage? Go to school and prove you're worth more than $8/hr.

When you compare us with NB, look at it this way as well. NB is a dead end province. Not a whole lot of opporitunity there, so many people will be work min. wage or close to min. wage jobs for a very long time. Vancouver has LOADS of opporitunity to make money. Just don't be a lazy fuxk and get off your ass :D.

[Mr.HappySilp]

raise min wage and we will see price increase. So when price increase we are back to square one. Sure min wage wokers get more but then they have to spend more.

Instead of raising min wage why not lower taxes(Yea right). When taxes are lower ppl pay less and make more money so ppl are willing to spend more thefore genearting more revenue for the gov.

Not the mention if min wage is raise a lot of ppl will want thier wage to raise as well. Ex a CSR making 16.hr will want his wage raise as well when min wage raise since that's the new living standard. This will put small business out of business or reduce the labour force they need. Thefore more ppl are laid off or are froce to work part time only. Resulting less income so ppl spend less and the gov is in mroe debt.

[taylor192]

Let the market set minimum wage. If there's still people willing to work for that, then these people must still beable to live in BC.

Alberta stores had to raises wages to hire employees cause there was no-one willing to do those jobs for that money. You could work at Tim Hortons for $14/hr, or CT for $12/hr.

[MelonBoy]

lol.. honestly all min wage people sohuld quit there bitching XD.. there making min wage for a reason.. cause they SUCK.. i mean if ur good at what u do im pretty sure the employer would give u a raise..

Sersoukly .. my parent own a small business and i honestly think some of there employees should be making less then what they pay them lol.. shit whenenver i go to the shop i always see these bitchs standing around and not working.. makes me want to back hand them lol (parents pay u to work not dick around) >=O

[Minata]

raising it to $10 is a little extreme... i'd say on par with other provinces is probably enough.. like $8.50 or something.
better than nothing.

[ShaughnessyREN]

raising the min wage just doesnt solve the core issue here
furthermore, it will hurt bc economy more
but srsly, making minimum wage is pretty sad. u will never be able to afford shelter here in BC. but it's mostly student & fob immigrants working for 8-11bucks.

[silk]

if you are getting min wage, might as well work with our asian that pays cash under the table lol

[Noir]

Most people's minimum wage is determined by their experience & education anyways. No need to increase the mandate.

[you!]

id rather kill myself than work minimum wage

[scheng924]

i was reading a news article.. apparently some businesses are wanting higher minimum wages... and they're saying they should support NDP.... or something.. think i read it in metro or 24...

then i was thinking... if you want to give more than minimum wage... why not pay your employees more than minimum wage, i don't understand why they're complaining... it seems more like a political ploy...

[pyro123]

Yeah for sure minimum wage is a way to motivate ppl to get a better education. Forcing minimum wage up is upsetting capitalist society. The supply of labour is higher than the amount of jobs available b/c all the businesses that rely on minimum wage workers are disappearing. Those think minimum wage workers (who don't have expendable income) making an extra $.25 an hour is going to increase spending in our economy? you should go back to school - which is probably why you're making minimum wage.

You make an extra $.25 maybe you get laid off...
New job @ $8/hr -36x the amount of money flowing through economy

[Nocardia]

^yea man, no way someone working min wage can afford University. You really need ur parents' help if u just wanna be at par w/ people around u. U can't really kick ur son out the door at 18 & hope he'll make it. Chances are, there will be 1 more person on the street.

Seriously beg to differ here.
If someone really wants to go and not just go because "everyone goes", then they can find a way. Student loans from government, bank loans, scholarships, bursaries, there is TONS of money to get if people spend some time to look and actually want to go.

Remember, real students (those who don't have things handed to them) don't drive BMWs or have iphones/blackberries and $2000 computers like you see at UBC.

[Nocardia]

Let the market set minimum wage. If there's still people willing to work for that, then these people must still beable to live in BC.

Alberta stores had to raises wages to hire employees cause there was no-one willing to do those jobs for that money. You could work at Tim Hortons for $14/hr, or CT for $12/hr.

Hello, supply and demand :)

the picture on the last page is a visual concept of this idea.

[misteranswer]

Hello, supply and demand :)

the picture on the last page is a visual concept of this idea.

There's a reason they teach that in first year economics.

[taylor192]

^yea man, no way someone working min wage can afford University. You really need ur parents' help if u just wanna be at par w/ people around u. U can't really kick ur son out the door at 18 & hope he'll make it. Chances are, there will be 1 more person on the street.

Drama Queen.

School costs about $5-6K with books and tuition. Live at home, take the bus, pack your lunch, and you'll do just fine making $5-6K over the summer and with a part-time job.

I underlined your problem: stop trying to keep up with the hongers. I had a variety of friends in university, from a diplomat's son on a completely free ride with lots of $$$, to friends working 2 jobs to cover rent and tuition. I was $25K in debt when leaving university cause I had to pay for it myself. I worked my butt off in high school to get scholarships, kept those scholarships through university, applied to every bursary I could, and took a program with co-op and tons of jobs waiting afterwards (systems eng).

If you wanna cry about not having an iPhone while being bored in PoliSci pulling Bs-Cs, then too bad, so sad. Go study, get As, get a scholarship and bursaries and stop complaining.

[GLOW]

Seriously beg to differ here.
If someone really wants to go and not just go because "everyone goes", then they can find a way. Student loans from government, bank loans, scholarships, bursaries, there is TONS of money to get if people spend some time to look and actually want to go.

Remember, real students (those who don't have things handed to them) don't drive BMWs or have iphones/blackberries and $2000 computers like you see at UBC.

exactly. you haven't lived until you lived off of ketchup/soysauce and rice for a while. those were the days :thumbsup: