For Immediate Release
29 September, 2023
NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) is calling on government to acknowledge that the legislated minimum wage rate increase on October 1st leaves many across our province living in poverty.
“It took the provincial government five years to listen to workers and agree to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, since then workers have faced record inflation, increasing costs of living, and aren’t able to make ends meet,” said Dinn. “The government must acknowledge that large profitable corporations cannot be raking in profits while their workers are choosing between feeding themselves and their children.”
The NL NDP is calling for a plan from the government that will force profitable employers to end their practice of using a legislated poverty wage to exploit workers so the corporation’s bottom line is protected. Dinn says this plan must be put into place quickly and include measures to ensure smaller local businesses are able to move along with the plan.
“A worker at a grocery store earning minimum wage while punching a full week should not have to choose between heating their home and feeding their children this winter. It’s inhumane and I cannot fathom how successive governments refused to fix this inequality,” said Dinn. “Our province should be proud to say workers are not being exploited and are able to provide for their families by earning a livable minimum livable wage that’s tied to the rate of inflation.
“As I’ve explained to this government before: if someone is drowning two feet under water, raising them up by six inches isn’t going to save them.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca