Is being certified as a living-wage employer worth it?
That’s what Barrie’s finance and corporate services committee must determine in the new year.
Last October, council asked staff to look into the feasibility of the city becoming a living wage employer. Council sent its findings to committee earlier in December.
A living wage is the hourly wage a worker needs to earn, in order to cover basic expenses and to participate in the community. Expenses in the living-wage calculation include food, housing, transportation and child care.
For Simcoe County — where Barrie sits geographically, if not politically — the current living wage is $18.01 an hour (calculated in 2018). Ontario’s minimum wage is $14.25 an hour, having just increased by a quarter in October.
Barrie Coun. Keenan Aylwin, who asked that finance and corporate services committee look into the matter, said he believes a living wage just makes sense.
“I believe that everyone deserves to live a life of dignity where they can afford the necessities of life. No one should be living in poverty in our city and a living wage is a recognition of that,” he told BarrieToday. “Getting certified would allow the city to lead by example and encourage private-sector employers to pay their employees a living wage.”
Living Wage Ontario has developed a living-wage employer program with phased implementation and three levels of certification.
A ‘supporter’ has all full-time employees earning a living wage and the employer is committed to begin raising the pay of all part-time employees.
A ‘leader’ has all full- and part-time employees earning a living wage. The employer also commits to including living-wage requirements in service contracts and will encourage service contractors to raise the wages of their employees to a living-wage level.
And a ‘champion’ has all full- and part-time employees earning a living wage, and all external service contracts paying a living wage.
“Paying a living wage strengthens our local economy and ensures that we have a skilled and healthy workforce,” Aylwin said. “The City of Barrie, as an employer, is already a leader in this regard, but we could be doing more to encourage all employers to pay their workers a living wage. It’s the right thing to do and it’s also good for business.”
Coun. Sergio Morales, chairman of the finance and corporate services committee, voted against sending the matter there after reading a Dec. 14 staff memo on the city’s status.
“The memo clearly indicated we are already a living-wage employer with (full-time employees), which I was happy to see,” he told BarrieToday. “The memo gave us what we wanted. I didn’t see nor hear a need to send it to committee.”
The city is paying its full-time employees above the current living-wage rate set for Simcoe County ($18.01). If city council is interested in proceeding with the certification process to become a living-wage employer, staff say the ‘supporter’ level would require the city to have a documented plan to move those working less than full-time hours to the living wage.
Approximately 25 per cent of the total part-time city employees were paid below the $18.01 in 2019. The financial impact would be approximately $200,000 to elevate their hourly rate to the current living wage, staff say.
The lowest hourly rate of pay for full-time employees is $28.30 an hour for non-union workers, $20.82 for CUPE members, both effective Jan. 1, 2020, and $28.28 for members of the Barrie Professional Fire Fighters Association, effective July 1, 2020.
The lowest hourly rate of pay for part-time, non-union city employees is $14.92 as of July 8, 2020.
The city has a total of 980 full-time employees, working 35 hours or more weekly, in either permanent or temporary/casual positions, and a total of 419 part-time employees, working less than 35 hours a week, in either permanent or temporary/casual positions.
