King businesses grapple with minimum wage increase

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 18, 2018
Simon Martin

What would you rather have lower prices or better pay equity? The start of the new year also brought the start of $14 minimum wage. Many local King businesses are having to grapple with the change.

When Ward 6 Coun. and farmer Avia Eek learned about the minimum wage increase, she knew it was going to present some challenges.

“First off, I am in favour in the wage increase. It's long overdue,” she said. “There are many people struggling to make ends meet.”

That being said, the changes made by the provincial government are going to have a significant effect on the vegetable farmers in the Holland Marsh, Eek said. A lot of farmers rely on temporary foreign workers who are paid minimum wage. The problem commercial farmers have is they can’t simply raise the price of carrots or onions to supplement the lost income from the wage increase, Eek said. Retailers dictate price to farmers, not the other way around, she said.

The other significant factor farmers deal with is there is little to no appetite from Canadian workers for the low-skilled work like weeding needed on a farm. Farmers in the marsh are left little choice but to seek out foreign workers as their job vacancies get little to no interest from Canadians.

Eek hoped the province could omit the wage increase from the agricultural sector.

“The workers that come over, bless their heart, don’t need to get paid the same as an Ontario worker,” she said. “That money goes a lot further in their home countries.”

While Eek only relies on two foreign workers every year, she said the farmers that have 15 to 20 are the ones that will really feel the effects of the wage hike.

Over in Nobleton, the minimum wage increase is being felt by retailers like Peter Grandili. The long time business owner of Grandview TV said the increase is large.

“To jump minimum wage from $11 to $14, that’s a lot of money,” Grandili said.

It’s no secret how businesses are going to respond. In most cases retailers are going to pass the price onto the customer.

“If you paid $2.50 for your espresso it’s going to be $3 dollars now,” he said.

In May, the Ontario government announced the largest increase to minimum wage in the province’s history. It would be increased from $11.60 to $14 on Jan. 1, 2018 and will jump to $15 come 2019.

In the past decade, minimum wage has seen multiple jumps including in 2008 when it went from $8 to $8.75, to $9.50 in 2009, $10.25 in 2010, $11 in 2014, $11.25 in 2015, $11.40 in 2016, $11.60 in 2017 to the current rate, a 60 per cent increase from 10 years ago.

Under the same plan to create better jobs and fair work places, the Ministry of Labour made major changes to the employment standards and labour laws, known as Bill 148. The legislation included mandating equal pay for equal work, expanding personal emergency leave and more.