British Columbia Federation of Labour

Vancouver - As the Campbell Liberals move closer to finalizing a 29 percent pay boost for MLAs, City Councillors in New Westminster last night voted unanimously to call on Victoria to increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour.

"We're grateful for the support for our efforts to win a raise for BC's lowest-paid workers," says B.C. Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair. "The vote is an important sign of the widespread pressure that's mounting on the BC government to boost the minimum wage."

Sinclair says, so far 17 municipal councils and regional districts have backed the call for a higher minimum wage including Surrey, Burnaby, North Vancouver, Prince George and Nanaimo.

Meanwhile, with final approval expected this week for the controversial MLA pay increase, Sinclair challenged Premier Gordon Campbell to meet with minimum and low-wage earners to hear how 250,000 British Columbians - about 12 percent of the provincial labour force - make do on less than $10 per hour.

"It's obscene for a government to give major wage increases to politicians and not raise the minimum wage," said Sinclair.

BC's minimum wage has been frozen at $8 per hour since 2001 when the BC Liberals were first elected. In 2002, the provincial government cut the rate for new workers to $6 per hour. Relative to the cost of living, BC has the second lowest minimum wage level in Canada.

Sinclair says, boosting the minimum to $10 an hour would help a full-time worker to just climb over the poverty level set for a single person.

About 12,000 British Columbians have signed the B.C. Federation of Labour's petition in support of a higher minimum wage. More information about the Campaign is available at www.bcfed.ca.

-30-