The province’s Fair Wages Commission (FWC) is giving British Columbians the chance to share their thoughts on how to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
The group is seeking input on the timing of wage increase along with wage fairness for liquor servers, home support workers and other groups.
A series of in-person consultations are on tap this month including one in Northern BC on November 28th in Prince George
Wendy Booth with the Union of BC Municipalities says the discussions will allow the commission to hear a variety of thoughts and concerns.
“Different areas of the province have different challenges and what may work in one area may not work in the other areas so it’s really important that you get abroad stakeholder engagement from around regions so that you can come up with the best decisions and recommendations moving forward.”
She believes the consultations are the best way to approach the issue at this time.
“I think this is early days for these conversations, they are important conversations and I think it’s great that we’re going to be in a lot of communities and having these conversations with people.”
From now until December 7th, people can also submit written feedback via email at [email protected]
The consultations will give businesses, individuals and organizations a chance to schedule a presentation for the commission to see.
This is part of the Poverty Reduction efforts by the province who unveiled a 27-member Advisory Forum on Monday in Victoria, which includes Dawn Hemingway of UNBC.
The FWC was created by the Ministry of Labour last month to advise the government on how to move towards a $15-an-hour minimum wage that includes predictable and measured wage hikes.