A $7.50 U.S. minimum wage is a priority of new Democrat-led House of Representatives
 |
| Nancy Pelosi, first woman speaker in American history, promises $7.50 U.S. minimum wage |
Washington (8 Nov. 2006) - Workers in Canada can take heart at sweeping Democratic Party gains in American mid-term elections. When a political earthquake hits the U.S., the tremors almost always ripple across Canada too.
The Democrats regained power in the House of Representatives on Tuesday with a smashing majority – one of the main issues being that they promised to act quickly to raise the U.S. federal minimum wage.
Meanwhile, minimum wage initiatives were also approved Tuesday in six states - Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio.
One of the most striking and hopeful messages of the election was the broad repudiation of George Bush, not merely for the war in Iraq but also for his elitist Republican economic policies.
Rejecting an elitist economy
The message was loud and clear. The Republican-led U.S. economy is no longer a tide which lifts all boats.
Even when times are supposedly booming, with the stock market soaring to new records, the majority of Americans have been left behind. For years, some say decades, the boom has benefited mainly the wealthy rather than middle and working class Americans.
Nothing more epitomizes the gap than the minimum wage, which has been stalled at $5.15 ($5.82 Cdn) for the past 10 years. There hasn't been a single increase despite vast overall growth in the U.S. economy, nor has the rate been adjusted for inflation.
Americans by the millions told Bush on Tuesday they have had enough.
California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who will become the first woman speaker in American congressional history, has pledged to introduce a bill immediately to raise the minimum wage by 40% to $7.50 ($8.50 Cdn).
Similar action could be taken in the U.S. Senate if races in two razor-thin states (Virginia and Montana) tip to the Democrats and give them control of the U.S. Senate along with the House of Representatives.
15 million would benefit
An estimated 15 million American workers would benefit from a $7.50 wage. The total includes nearly seven million directly affected and another eight million who could look forward to a related bump upward in their marginal rates of pay.
Best of all, the change would be the first tangible recognition by U.S. legislators in years that a rising economy is supposed to benefit everyone, not just big business, investors and the special interest groups who fund political parties.
As president, Bush would still have the option under the U.S. Constitution to veto an increase but he would be under enormous pressure to relent and sign such a bill into law.
Whatever happens, the shift south of the border is a positive harbinger for workers in Canada.
It puts pressure on the Harper government in Ottawa and on provincial governments across the country to recognize that legions of workers north of the 49th parallel feel just as frustrated as Americans.
Canada's record worse
If anything, Canada has been even more negligent than the United States in going to bat for the most vulnerable workers in the economy.
At least the U.S. still has a federal minimum wage law. In Canada, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have stopped setting a minimum wage at all.
Since the 1990s, Ottawa has simply decreed that whatever minimums the provinces set in their jurisdiction will serve as the country's 'national' standard. The result is that rates in all provinces have languished for years, not to mention sliding backward because of inflation.
Canadian minimum wage rates are so low relative to the country's overall wealth that they amount to an international joke. The result has been a much-deserved black eye for Canada and another blow to the country's dismal international reputation on labour rights in general.
Provincial rates now range from $6.75 an hour in Newfoundland to $8 in B.C. However, the provinces have diluted even these paltry rates by adopting reduced minimums for new workers. In fact, B.C. has not the highest minimum wage in the country but the lowest at $6 - the rate it allows employers to pay new workers. In Nova Scotia the 'new worker' rate is $6.75.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has been among the most vocal groups demanding fair minimum wage laws in Canada.
The Arthurs report
The situation is now so dire that a just-released report by law professor and mediator Harry Arthurs has recommended that Ottawa not only stand up once again for workers but that it do so in a meaningful way.
After a two-year national review of the antiquated Canada Labour Code, Arthurs released a report last month calling on Ottawa to get back into the business of legislating a federal minimum wage. He stopped short of proposing a specific rate but noted pointedly that many groups are now calling for a $10 national rate. That would make a real difference.
One of the best-selling books in the U.S. this political season is War on the Middle Class, How the Government, Big Business and Special Interest Groups are Waging War on the American Dream and How to Fight Back.
The author is CNN commentator Lou Dobbs, who has been repeatedly making the point that the wages of average working Americans, discounted for inflation, have been stagnant for 35 years! The book is a best seller across the country and the outcome of Tuesday's election tells why.
The story among Canadian workers is no different. Message to Stephen Harper: It's time to read the Arthurs report and take its suggestions seriously. NUPGE
More information:
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
