SURREY – The Surrey Board of Trade gained the support of the BC Chamber of Commerce members recently for the call to stabilize minimum wage increases.
“We recognize and accept the work done by the Fair Wage Commission,” said Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade. “And while we still feel a 5 year implementation would have been better, we accept the results of $15.20 by June 2021.”
However, starting 2022, the Surrey Board of Trade calls for the minimum wage increases to be indexed to the BC Consumer Price Index. This is to provide stability for minimum wage earners and predictability for employers going forward.
“Stagnation followed by a huge ‘catch-up’ jump in wages is too hard on everyone, and can be very unfair to small business owners,” said Huberman.
There is precedence for doing so. Several provinces have indexed their minimum wages to the CPI: Alberta & Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Yukon.
“It only makes sense to stabilize increases by indexing to a significantly important and impartial metric, the CPI,” said Huberman. “The sooner that government assures us that this will happen, the better for businesses going forward.”
