"$10
NOW" DEMAND AT FEB. 16
RALLY
(The
following article is from
the February 1-15,
2008
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in
Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per
year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502,
Hamilton,
ON, L8P 2H3.
Young
working people and students in the Vancouver area are
increasingly faced with the dilemma of how to pay the rent and other
living expenses, at a time when thousands of jobs pay poverty-level
wages.
On Feb. 16, the Young Workers Committee of the
Vancouver & District Labour Council will tackle this issue head on,
with a Feb. 16 rally to demand an increased minimum wage from Gordon
Campbell's Liberal government.
A recent message from the Young Workers
Committee says, "After voting themselves a $22,000 pay raise this
spring, the Liberal government still refuses to increase the minimum
wage for B.C. lowest paid workers to a mere $10 an hour. Today many
minimum wage workers, even at full time, find themselves below the
poverty line.
"We support the B.C. Federation of Labour and
other groups which are cooperating to win a wage increase for the
115,000 British Columbians who earn $8 per hour as well as 135,000 more
workers who earn less than $10. We also demand an end to the ageist
`training wage' which targets young workers with wages well below
poverty levels, $6 per hour. Furthermore, we demand another increase to
$11 per hour one year later, and the implementation of an indexing
formula so that, like elected provincial politicians' earnings, workers
earnings will continue to increase with the cost of living."
The rally for "$10 Now" is set for 1 pm,
Saturday, Feb. 16, at Gordon Campbell's Point Grey constituency office,
3615 W. 4th Ave. The VDLC Young Workers Committee urges all supporters
of youth and labour rights to take part. For more information, contact
Stephen von Sychowski, Chair of the Committee, by email at vs.stephen@gmail.com,
or tel. 778-231-4635.
Found
at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint11/07_$10_NOW_DEMAND_AT_FEB__16_RALLY.html