A proposal to boost the pay of people who work for the City of Calgary to a “living wage” is getting a cold reception from some aldermen and business groups in advance of the April 28 council vote on the issue, even though the city’s own research shows that implementing a living wage policy would “greatly benefit” the city while having minimal impact on businesses and city costs.
City council is sharply divided on the idea. A living wage policy would make it mandatory for the city and its contractors to pay their employees at least $12 an hour (or $13.25 if the job doesn’t include benefits) — a wage based on Statistics Canada’s low-income cutoff. The city says the biggest impact of a living wage policy would be on its own workforce, as almost 700 city employees (of 13,600) earn less than a living wage. Bringing these workers to a living wage would cost the city at least $445,000.
“I think it’s a terrible idea,” says Ald. Jim Stevenson. “I do not agree with it at all. There are too many things that haven’t been, in my mind, thought out and considered…. My feeling is that this is going to hurt the very people that we’re trying to help.”
Stevenson says the city doesn’t “have the right” to tell companies what to pay their workers. “The people that I’ve heard from think that it’s ridiculous that we’re even considering this, that it’s intervention in the marketplace that we should keep out of,” he says.
This hands-off approach frustrates living wage supporters who argue that boosting wages would benefit everyone, including businesses. “There’s a lot of fear-mongering going on,” says David Winkler, who runs The Unique Blend Coffee Co. and pays his two employees more than $18 an hour. Predictions that businesses will take a big hit are “a bunch of hooey,” he says. “I’m extremely competitive, and I just offer things that my competitors can’t offer…. If I’m making money, my employees should be making money, too.” Over 80 per cent of businesses that work with the city have fewer than 20 employees.
The living wage proposal — which was recommended by the imagineCALGARY project, as well as Calgary’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness — barely made it past a city council finance committee in early April. On April 28, when council votes on whether or not to move ahead on developing the policy, it will face more opposition. “If I have anything to do with it, it’ll go nowhere,” says Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart. “I think that members of council should think very carefully when they are spending taxpayer dollars for their pet peeves, and this is one of them.”
More than 125 cities in the U.S. have implemented living wage policies, but no Canadian cities have done so. Several Ontario cities, however, have developed similar “fair wage” policies that cover certain industries. “We have research and evaluation from these cities that says there are no huge implications to business,” says Nicole Neve, project co-ordinator for Vibrant Communities Calgary (VCC), the anti-poverty organization leading the push for a living wage policy. “Yet what we keep hearing is… these projected estimations of what’s going to happen. It just seems a little crazy to us.”
The city’s own research reinforces the VCC’s positive findings. In a 59-page report to the finance committee, the city’s Community & Neighbourhood Services department outlined “clear evidence” that a living wage policy would “greatly benefit the city” by attracting better workers and increasing productivity, among other things. A living wage policy would have “a positive impact on poverty and related social issues while having minimal financial impact,” says the report. About 11 per cent of workers in Calgary are currently living in poverty.
Critics say a living wage policy would spike city costs and reduce employment, but the city’s research “did not bear out these concerns.” The city surveyed 55 of its contractors and found 89 per cent of them already pay a living wage. An overwhelming majority of companies surveyed also said a living wage policy wouldn’t affect their employment practices or keep them from bidding on city contracts.
VCC’s research also found businesses that pay a living wage struggle less with attracting and retaining quality employees than those paying less. “We see it as a really good strategy for addressing some of these labour shortage concerns, and then obviously it benefits employees and they have a better quality of life,” says Neve.
Winkler agrees, pointing out that many homeless people in Calgary are employed — “but they don’t have enough money to rent a place,” he says. “So how productive are they going to be when they’re at work? …We talk about homelessness and getting rid of homelessness over the next 10 years, but we can’t get rid of homelessness if people aren’t getting paid enough money.”
The April 28 vote will determine whether or not city administration goes ahead and develops a policy. Council would ultimately have the final say on whatever is proposed. “It’s about negotiating,” says Neve. “Let’s start talking about this and having a conversation. We don’t have to shut the door right now without even knowing what we’re shutting the door on.”
Ald. Bob Hawkesworth says it’s a good idea to move the living wage proposal forward. “I think the problem for business right now is getting workers — it’s not a fair wage policy from the City of Calgary,” he says. Hawkesworth voted in favour of the proposal on the finance committee, and says he’ll vote in favour again on April 28. “Why would we suggest that people should work for wages that they can’t live on?” he says. “We should be promoting wages that people can live on, and that’s what this is all about.”
