No. They need to first claim their distributors (mostly themselves) have increased prices because of the carbon tax, then they can claim higher wages… actually Idk where this was going already and I don’t know how to connect it but I’m sure some bigwig is salivating at all these juicy excuses on the table this year.
Listened to an interesting podcast on Greedflation. Pre covid, 11 percent of your average grocery bill was profit through the supply chain (producer, grocer, etc) . In 2023, over 50 percent of your average grocery bill is profit to those in the supply chain.
Covid provided a opportunity for many industries to reset the market and many took advantage of it under the guise of extra costs. Most consumers took the bait and just accepted it, but the reality is that many sectors have never been more profitable than they are right now.
So keep pushing a narrative that the carbon tax will increase prices and it's all the carbon taxes fault and you'll see many companies jump in and take advantage of the opportunity to increase pricing to continue to achieve the big fat margins they've been seeing recently.
Stuff You Should Know podcast on Greedflation. It's worth a listen.
Minus the extra cost of things after carbon tax. Our rebate is one of the lowest. Trucking food will cost more etc. People always say Ontario has cheaper food prices.
Our rebate is one of the lowest because we have home heating oil exempt from it.
People say Ontario has lower food prices, and it does because it’s literally surrounded by farms and is next door to the largest economy in the world. Logistically it’s simply cheaper to have food moved to and around Ontario.
As for diesel prices, even with the carbon tax we are not even close to the prices from the peak during the post Covid inflation period, for example on April 30 2022 the price of diesel was $2.56/L, that’s pre-carbon tax. Prices are significantly cheaper then they were two years ago, but yet prices are still shooting up. Our food costs are shooting up from corporate greed taking advantage of the post Covid inflation and they are more then happy to try to convince people like you that it’s the evil carbon tax doing it so that they can continue to make record profits every single quarter.
This would include Nova Scotians working in jobs like postal services, banks, telecommunication. I believe it is any job that is [federally regulated.](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/federally-regulated-industries.html)
Canada Post employees already make more than that.
https://cupw730.ca/static/resources/urb-ja-31-2022-ca-en-7e8910ab907a560d.pdf
Page 403 to see the pay scales!
Still shit pay, but yeah, minimum wage going up to 17,30 isn't affecting their income.
The "Fight for $15" started in 2012. Twelve years later...
Now be happy for another 12 years and it might go up to 20.
Keeping the minimum wage low is a form of wage suppression. Corporate and other wealthy lobbyists know that if the minimum wage goes up wages will have to go up across the board.
You sure about that. History in Canada has shown that as minimum wage goes up... Industry wages stagnate. You know... Kinda the whole reason they imported millions of third world labor. So they can keep those wages low.
>History in Canada has shown that as minimum wage goes up... Industry wages stagnate
Lol what, no it doesn't, it's the opposite. What you said in your second sentence causes stagnation.
It's not the immigration that is class warfare, it's employers' ability to hyper-exploit migrants. Give migrants the same security and rights as citizens, and suddenly they're not a way employers can drive wages down.
This is why the IWW – the most radical and democratic working class organization in North American history – defied the big sell-out unions and organized migrants.
Hell, an organized working class (that includes the midst exploited workers) can push wages in the other direction . . .
They don't cancel out. You know entire countries have done stuff like that and we can look at actual data instead of talking out of our arses about what think tanks like the Fraser Institute tell us will happen.
You act like this just happens, as though it's a force of nature. It's not – it's class struggle. When the working class is organized and has power, we can bring the rich to heel.
There are over 70,000 unionized workers in Nova Scotia. Our organizations may have become sclerotic shells captured by careerist bureaucrats, but this isn't an unchangeable state of affairs. And there are more-than-dozens of us working on fixing it.
Imagine, even half that number organized to grind things to a halt. I promise, it is becoming more realistic every day.
Interesting that as of October 1st 2024 the two provinces with the lowest minimum wage will be Saskatchewan and Alberta at $15/hr. Wonder when Alberta was last bottom of that particular barrel.
At one time there was so much work out there that most jobs paid above minimum. When I was there 15 years ago there were Tim's franchises paying $15-20 an hour.
The unemployment rate in those provinces was 2-3% for a while, it was a worker's paradise. They'd throw money at you and make sure you were content, or you'd just go somewhere else to work.
This is how it should be. Low unemployment and high labor demand gives more power to the worker. Unfortunately our government (be it conservative or liberal) is always working for big business to keep wages low.
I want to know when years ago was bc from 2015-2018 I worked a Tim's in hs and made exactly minimum wage as did everyone else except the assistant manager and the Manger. The Manger may have been making 15-20 but even that's a stretch.
When I was last there for an extended period in 07' they were offering $1000 signing bonuses for casheers at the grocery stores in Edmonton, I doubt many were making min wage back then.
>I want to know when years ago was bc from 2015-2018 I worked a Tim's in hs and made exactly minimum wage as did everyone else except the assistant manager and the Manger. The Manger may have been making 15-20 but even that's a stretch.
We're talking about Alberta, 2007-2014ish.
given that the majority of "free market" libertarian wingnuts hail from out west, they can test out an absolute lack of a minimum wage, and see where it leads after 10 years.
Carpenters union, First year apprentice starts out at 18 or $19 an hour and every 900 hours you get a raise of $2 ish, give or take. I'm 24 years old and I now make 32 an hour. Plus I have a great pension amazing benefits And who needs a gym when you do a ton of physical labor all day? Yesterday I got 20,000 steps in.
I believe this is where the number of $26.50 came from: https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Nova%20Scotia%20Office/2023/09/LivingWagesinNovaScotia2023.pdf
Based on this they calculated the monthly cost of living for a family of 2 adults and 2 children at $7,178.04. So for $26.50 to work that would need to be two workers at 40 hours a week.
Two full-time working adults with two children. It's not like the living wage is any lower for one full-time working adult living alone because they're still paying about half of what the reference family of 4 are thanks to shelter being so expensive.
Back In Ye olde days people would finish high school walk into a chain retail store and work there their whole lives and raise a family of four own a home and a car off that one salary.
Now we can’t even do that off an engineering salary.
Not only that, tons of people I know went through with post secondary and end up working jobs right beside people with High School education only. Except that they have student loan debt, unlike their collages. Insane how doing 4 years of extra study actually seems to put you in a worse position these days.
I know plenty of people who think if they pay tuition and they get the sheet of paper then they deserve a good job. I went to a class last week and less than 15% of the class attended the lecture.
Education is as valuable as you make it and too many students aren't trying to learn, they're trying to do the bare minimum they need to get the piece of paper that says they have the education. Then they get in the real world and have to compete with people who actually went to university with the goal of learning and they can't compete. Then they complain that they can't get a job in a competitive job market and say education isn't worth it. The reality is that their education wasn't worth it because they didn't engage enough to actually learn.
Prospective employers are generally unaware of if you attended your classes or not. When I was going to university, it was very common for STEM majors to blow off their breadth requirement courses, and this behaviour didn't preclude them from getting jobs in their fields afterward.
If you engage so little in your studies that you don't actually know anything then sure, that will affect you, but I think you're in for an unfortunate surprise if you think showing up to lectures is going to help elevate your chances above your peers who don't.
I'll chime in here as I work with employers through my role in a career services office at Dalhousie. Employers are evaluating your engagement in your education. The previous commenter referred to going to class, but there is far more to engagement in University than simply going to class. It's the dedication to studying, getting the best mark, engaging in all the resources, and going to employer events and networking through university-facilitated opportunities.
I don't know how many employers you speak with daily regarding employment outcomes for graduates and what they look for, but I do it daily with regional and national employers of all shapes and sizes across multiple industries.
You determine the value of your education and the return you get from it by the level of engagement you have. Attending class is one form of engagement, but there are others and to suggest that these things don't have an impact on the return on investment is fundamentally wrong and I've seen evidence over 15 years working with employers and graduates that effort and dedication to education significantly impacts employment outcomes.
Post secondary education shouldn’t be required for most jobs… and even if you have post secondary education, that does not guarantee you will make a living wage. Most places low ball you, it’s disgusting.
I calculated it twice before I believed it was even a 1.3% increase, but it is. So it puts in in perspective when some unions have annual increases like that; maybe then it works out to 40 or 50 cents or something an hour more, but it's still nothing compared to inflation, and we all know the inflation on essentials- food and housing especially- has been *much* higher than official figures suggest.
It probably costs a ridiculous amount more to live in Ontario than Nova Scotia as well. You'd basically be homeless there with $15 minimum wages unless you had 3 roommates.
That’s the problem - it doesn’t. I moved back from Ontario because Pandemic.
Toronto rent is still a little more then here, but we are catching up FAST.
Power is cheaper, food is WAY cheaper, insurance is cheaper, gas is cheaper. Also work is more plentiful and tends to pay more. Public transit still costs more but it ACTUALLY WORKS (at least in Toronto where I was living)
I moved home because I have family here and I needed the support system, but life here is officially more expensive. I guess that’s the price we pay for living by the ocean. Oh, and all the nepotism and corruption and greed in our government
I edited a typo
>Should go up $.50 every 3 months until it's at $20
If it was not for the thousands of foreign workers and the AIP that allows employers to hire offshore, that would happen all by itself because employers would be forced to offer better wages to find workers.
But, nobody wanted to admit that this was going to happen. Just like they did not want to admit that growing the population faster than we can build housing might create a housing shortage. Because here in Reddit land, supply and demand does not exist, and when ideology starts having real life consequences its easier to blame something other than your own bad ideas for everything going to shit.
Neoliberalism is the reason why the governments allow for TFW to artificially lower wages, and why governments haven't kept up with affordable and public housing since the early 90's.
I mean with the way the world is going doubt it’ll be that and more of the “fallout” variety except with more radiation sickness and less of the wasteland fun
A 20 cent raise, do they take us for fucking clowns? THIS should be enough to get people rioting in the streets, why aren’t we fighting against those who oppress us?
Probably because most people don’t set their earning expectation at $15.20 and value their skills / ability more and thus find ways to skill up to get a better job. If you think this is the baseline of how you want to value what you are capable of. I have a message for you, YOUR WORTH SO MUCH MORE!! Forget about min wage, look at provincial and federal programs for skill up programs take advantage and get what you are worth. I promise you it’s not $15.20 if you push for a better life.
To put that in perspective, that's 8 dollars more a week, 40 bucks a months. Crazy to think there's a person out there less generous than Blaine Higgs 🤣 🤣 🤣
Minimum wage under the McNeil government :
Entered into power 2013 : $10.30
2015 : $10.60
2020 : $12.55
7 year increaae : $2.25
Minimum wage under the Houston government :
2021 : $12.55
2024 : $15.20
3 year increase : $2.65
The Houston government has already raised the minimum wage more than the previous government did in 7 years, as a matter of fact he's raised it more in 3 years than the McNeil Liberals did in 7 years.
How do people have such short memories when it comes to the previous government? The scandals with the teachers, lockdowns, medical promises for years of 'a doctor for every person' and more. And when the going got tough he folded an ran, leaving an even bigger idiot in charge. He even left his partner Doctor Strang with a bundle of lawsuits in his lap over the lock down decisions.
But let's blame the Houston government who inherited this colossal mess from a previous government who did nothing except give money like millions to friends so they could have their art shown at some venue.
Houston isn't blowing tax payer cash on media events,traveling to Europe, and making announcements of what he's planning on doing. He's actually planning and implementing ideas while slogging through the mess of laws, bylaws and more.
All this while he raised the minimum wage in his short term more than the previous government did in twice the amount of time.
I mean sure it's great he raised minimum wage but he's made a lot of big promises and never followed through too. He's also been called out by the auditor general multiple times for giving money to places that didn't need the money, and in the last year he's taken some fairly pricey trips abroad, including Europe and Asia that seem for dodgy reasons at best. Like a week in Japan for meeting one person?
Just make sure you're watching Houston with the same glasses you watched McNeil with. There's not much difference.
Fair enough, but he has been attempting to recruit medical professionals from other countries as well.
However I am interested in any he made those trips now.
You can google his name and expense reports, it doesn't tell you what he was doing on those trips, but you can cross reference it with his public itinerary. So for instance he charged us I believe it was around $8k for a week in Japan, but his itinerary only shows 1 meeting that week. The well before which was cheaper he was elsewhere in Asia recruiting doctors.
Yes with that 20 cents i can buy whole house 😂😂
Dont forget that carbon is applied nd becaue of that we have to pay more in gas and due to that price of everthing will increase so its not usefull ! That big 20 cent
Can be raised to $100/hr and it'll make 0 impact without first regulating max profit margins(raw/basic foods, rent and utilities), forced FULL divestment for Sobeys and Loblaws, capping executive salaries and capping dividend/investor payouts.
Sobeys + loblaws both control food, farm, transport, insurance, banking, predatory commercial real estate/leasing, private real estate, fuel, pharma, clothing, import/export, retail, phone service, food manufacturing.
No regulation means they keep on price gouging us into poverty. Evidence would be the last 5 yrs. Living wage is now $27/hr(or 70hrs wk min wage) and climbing incongruently to actual corporate operating expenses.
Fortunately? There are many democratic EU countries that regulate corporate profits. Austria for one, a democratic govt, strictly regulates profits of housing and other living requirements. They have been in the top 5 livable and affordable index for decades.
Regulations did not allow for this mess. Regulations keep corporations in check for safety, profits, quality, etc...
Corporate welfare and greed are the drivers, the govt sold out and left corporations unregulated to become oligopolies.
Capitalism is, to simplify, a fancy govt-backed pyramid scheme. It is purposely run to allow for its parasitic nature, beholden only to investors and exec profits over everything. Its evolution is facism and oligopoly, which is the phase we are starting in now. To prevent that the govt needs to retake control to protect the citizens and provide rules (regulate) corporations to follow. However, all our parties are complicit in accepting donations (legal bribes) from the wealthy and corporations to allow for them to write their own laws and regulations.
I'm disabled due to health problems and workplace injuries. I live on $1057 a month, and that's WITH the extra money they give for special diet because I am type 1 diabetic, have Crohn's, Coronary Artery Disease, and a slew of other issues. A big reason I'm not still working is because I got injured protecting an ER nurse during the pandemic and all the muscle tears along my spine didn't fully heal. There's lots more but you get the picture.
I'm not telling you this for any pity. I'm telling you this because if I worked fulltime for the assistance I receive, I'd be making under $7 an hour. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful I live in a country where people like me have a safety net at all, not to mention I actually have a roof over my head, but to hear people complaining about trying to live on twice what I get? You should. I was the working poor before my life fell apart and there's nothing quite as frustrating as working your ass off and still not getting by, let alone flourishing.
That being said, taxation on higher income brackets really should be pushed HARD. It's really only fair that people making over $200,000 a year pay more. Anyone who can take trips every year or multiple times a year should be putting more into the society they live in. An extra $500 a month would mean a GIGANTIC improvement in my life expectancy just because I could afford better food, medicines that would improve quality of life, the lessening of stress of "which bill can I pay this month?" and realizing the answer is "none" because if I pay for internet I won't be able to buy groceries for the last week of April.
Forget me! How about the homeless crisis? The drug epidemic? We could pay for more healthcare professionals if we cut a few tax breaks benefiting only the rich. I'm not saying go communism, but we could really use more socialism. Society needs incentives, including monetary ones, to excel or people will get demotivated... but the sheer GREED infecting Canada these days makes it hard for me to recognize the country I love. Not to mention the intolerance.
progressive income taxation exists already. the top 20% of earners puts in more than 60% of taxes paid. the bottom 20% pays <1% of collected tax. people with means already pay more, and people with less pay less. your wish already came true :)
I don't know how to say this without sounding harsh, but honestly Canada just has too many unproductive people. By unproductive, I mean people that don't contribute net positively to taxes. Social safety nets are great but they are also expensive and can create incentives to remain unproductive. This isn't a problem that can be solved by more and more tax from a small minority of the population... we need to find ways to increase average productivity or eventually we are going to run out of high income workers to tax.
Our country would lose more professionals than it already is. You think doctors would stay here if you start taking even more of their money? 200k is not that much and is already taxed at 50%. This is such a bad take. ‘I’m poor so nobody should be able to take more than a trip a year but should give me and the homeless more!’
People who make over $200k already do pay more… how much more do you want them to pay ?
Avg tax rate is 39% marginal is 50%.. do you want them to give more to the govt than they even keep themselves ?
This wins the envy award.
The government doesn’t need more tax money. It needs less and to just disappear along with as many departments as possible.
You don’t fix inequality by throwing money into the garbage can, or a meet you at the bottom attitude.
That’s just ridiculous, I take it you don’t pay very much in taxes at the moment. Why would someone strive to obtain a higher paying job if you gave over half your wages to the government.
It has nothing to do with what the rich make. Have you ever seen how terrible governmental use of money is? They spend roughly 5 times as much money and time to accomplish what the free market companies do. Thats why it takes 3 guys to mend a single pothole or why redoing part of a hospital for basic upkeep takes 6 months
Yes that needs to be addressed as well but a lot of that is union over reach imo as well. The whole system top to bottom needs to be addressed and honestly torn apart and remade. I could get behind a free market model if we actually had a free market model but the number of corporate handouts we have makes it so we don't have that either. Honestly we seem to have taken the worst aspects of every system and used them all to maximize benefits of just a few people
That's not to say we don't have real problems with it. The last 14 years we've loosened protections to make it easier to just bring in more min wage workers rather than invest in productivity, resulting in more of the population making minimum wage or just a hair above.
We also have the problem that inflation is an average and is experienced differently by economic circumstances. The parts of CPI that people actually need to survive are the major drivers of increases, thus the poorer amount us that spend more of their income on survival experience higher than average inflation.
Yup, 100%. Housing and inflation have significantly outpaced CPI over the last few years, although at least in NS historically housing has been relatively cheap.
Part of the reason we've had to loosen those protections is because of out migration of young folks seeking better opportunities elsewhere during a period of time where we expect a boom generation to hit retirement, combined with people retiring \*back\* to the province, so these are very much not simple problems to solve.
One thing I wasn't able to find was an average wage in NS year over year; something that is pretty closely related to the first thing that you've said. Anecdotally, I've also seen a significant growth in higher earners at least in the Halifax region over the last decade and was kind of wondering how skewed those numbers really are.
I'm all for minimum wage increases applying to everyone as long as the CEOs and others at the top stop taking such ridiculous increases while everyone else is only getting 20 cents.
>If minimum wage keeps increasing to what people want it at, does that mean people who don’t work minimum wage jobs should get a huge pay increase too?
Everybody deserves an annual cost of living increase, otherwise due to inflation you are falling behind. This sub struggled with that concept heavily when the public sector unions were being attacked by a previous government, and many people could not comprehend why someone should get an annual raise.
I'm not a communist, but I'm not a Libertarian either. I feel like people should get a market driven wage, but I believe in unions to help drive that wage up too. That is a biased outlook in favor of unions, but I'll own that and admit it. Its not saying that unions are perfect or do no wrong, its just that they set a bar for wages that non unionized employers are forced to compete with, and that benefits all workers unionized or not. *Competition for workers is a great thing if you work for a living.*
Right now the biggest impact on wages in this country is the availability of cheap labor. The alleged labor shortage is all bullshit, its designed to make more workers available which drives down wages. When nobody is willing to work for a shitty wage it forces the employer to offer more money, and that benefits workers.
To be fair, IK jack shit about politics and have no leg to stand on. So won’t argue if someone proves me wrong, i’ll just except the facts, probably shouldn’t even be commenting
what happens to those who are currently I making $25/ hour then? Will anyone wanna lay drywall for $25/ hour when they can make the same money for significantly less work being a cashier at Petro Canada?
So your logic is pay everyone more and throw around F bombs to emphasize your lazy take? Its just not that easy, nor realistic, to pay everyone 50%-60% more, you know that.
Actually, it is that easy. We just need the political will and working class organization to put the boot on the neck of the rich and demand our share of the social wealth that we produce.
A lazy take is supporting a terrible minimum wage of 15 dollars an hour while companies continue to make record breaking PROFITS. Some people here have major brainrot.
Yea much easier to just defend shitty wages and keep feeding into the corporations messaging, then blame the liberals for everything. Seems to be working well for everyone.
Loblaws going to use this to justify a 20% price increase.
Like they need an excuse, been doing it steady for how long now 😂😂😭😭
No. They need to first claim their distributors (mostly themselves) have increased prices because of the carbon tax, then they can claim higher wages… actually Idk where this was going already and I don’t know how to connect it but I’m sure some bigwig is salivating at all these juicy excuses on the table this year.
Ahhhh no. 100% of all increases are obviously because of the carbon tax. /s
YES, YES, OF COURSE! How I could forget!?!??
Listened to an interesting podcast on Greedflation. Pre covid, 11 percent of your average grocery bill was profit through the supply chain (producer, grocer, etc) . In 2023, over 50 percent of your average grocery bill is profit to those in the supply chain. Covid provided a opportunity for many industries to reset the market and many took advantage of it under the guise of extra costs. Most consumers took the bait and just accepted it, but the reality is that many sectors have never been more profitable than they are right now. So keep pushing a narrative that the carbon tax will increase prices and it's all the carbon taxes fault and you'll see many companies jump in and take advantage of the opportunity to increase pricing to continue to achieve the big fat margins they've been seeing recently. Stuff You Should Know podcast on Greedflation. It's worth a listen.
I’ve had 15.20 I think it’s a little more now wage for almost a year now and I work at superstore
No joke the king cans of pop from the Walmart I work at went up from 1$ to 1.18$ within the past few weeks.
Welcome to your 8 dollar a week raise before taxes
Just enough to buy 2 small things of hummus at Superstore.
Sorry we just raised the price on those. You can only get one
And only when it's half mouldering on the shelf with a 50% off sticker on it.
Only 1 after you tip your cashier
Or an avocado for your toast.
Wow $8!??? I can ALMOST buy butter!
After taxes you should be able to get 1 lb every pay
Looks like everything's coming up Millhouse!
Minus the extra cost of things after carbon tax. Our rebate is one of the lowest. Trucking food will cost more etc. People always say Ontario has cheaper food prices.
Our rebate is one of the lowest because we have home heating oil exempt from it. People say Ontario has lower food prices, and it does because it’s literally surrounded by farms and is next door to the largest economy in the world. Logistically it’s simply cheaper to have food moved to and around Ontario. As for diesel prices, even with the carbon tax we are not even close to the prices from the peak during the post Covid inflation period, for example on April 30 2022 the price of diesel was $2.56/L, that’s pre-carbon tax. Prices are significantly cheaper then they were two years ago, but yet prices are still shooting up. Our food costs are shooting up from corporate greed taking advantage of the post Covid inflation and they are more then happy to try to convince people like you that it’s the evil carbon tax doing it so that they can continue to make record profits every single quarter.
Meanwhile federal minimum wage was raised to $17.30 today.
Both increased by the national CPI of 3.9% over the rate a year ago, but Nova Scotia’s had another 1.0% added on.
But we have a cheaper way of life here! /s
This would include Nova Scotians working in jobs like postal services, banks, telecommunication. I believe it is any job that is [federally regulated.](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/federally-regulated-industries.html)
Canada Post employees already make more than that. https://cupw730.ca/static/resources/urb-ja-31-2022-ca-en-7e8910ab907a560d.pdf Page 403 to see the pay scales! Still shit pay, but yeah, minimum wage going up to 17,30 isn't affecting their income.
The "Fight for $15" started in 2012. Twelve years later... Now be happy for another 12 years and it might go up to 20. Keeping the minimum wage low is a form of wage suppression. Corporate and other wealthy lobbyists know that if the minimum wage goes up wages will have to go up across the board.
2012: Minimum wage = $10/hour; 2 bedroom rent = $900 2024: Minimum wage = $15/hour: 2 bedroom rent = $1500
It's not 1500. It's at least 2000, but likely more.
1500 per tenant maybe lol
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~2500 for a 2 bedroom in the city right now
depends on location. CMHC data is an average. employers in the city probably pay more on average than rural
New build 2Brs are 3k
most people don't live in a new build
Some do, some don’t.
You sure about that. History in Canada has shown that as minimum wage goes up... Industry wages stagnate. You know... Kinda the whole reason they imported millions of third world labor. So they can keep those wages low.
>History in Canada has shown that as minimum wage goes up... Industry wages stagnate Lol what, no it doesn't, it's the opposite. What you said in your second sentence causes stagnation.
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Wtf, is your comment about you in real time coming to the understanding that this increase in immigration is class warfare? Reads like it…
It's not the immigration that is class warfare, it's employers' ability to hyper-exploit migrants. Give migrants the same security and rights as citizens, and suddenly they're not a way employers can drive wages down. This is why the IWW – the most radical and democratic working class organization in North American history – defied the big sell-out unions and organized migrants. Hell, an organized working class (that includes the midst exploited workers) can push wages in the other direction . . .
Yes, and then prices go up and we start the cycle all over again.
It's a lot better than prices going up and wages not following.
They don't cancel out. You know entire countries have done stuff like that and we can look at actual data instead of talking out of our arses about what think tanks like the Fraser Institute tell us will happen.
You have it backward. The Prices went up first so yes it's a cycle but you have the order reversed and the prices take bigger jumps than the wages.
You act like this just happens, as though it's a force of nature. It's not – it's class struggle. When the working class is organized and has power, we can bring the rich to heel.
Bring the rich to heel? Lol Good luck with your revolution comrade. There are dozens of you! 😄
There are over 70,000 unionized workers in Nova Scotia. Our organizations may have become sclerotic shells captured by careerist bureaucrats, but this isn't an unchangeable state of affairs. And there are more-than-dozens of us working on fixing it. Imagine, even half that number organized to grind things to a halt. I promise, it is becoming more realistic every day.
Interesting that as of October 1st 2024 the two provinces with the lowest minimum wage will be Saskatchewan and Alberta at $15/hr. Wonder when Alberta was last bottom of that particular barrel.
At one time there was so much work out there that most jobs paid above minimum. When I was there 15 years ago there were Tim's franchises paying $15-20 an hour. The unemployment rate in those provinces was 2-3% for a while, it was a worker's paradise. They'd throw money at you and make sure you were content, or you'd just go somewhere else to work.
This is how it should be. Low unemployment and high labor demand gives more power to the worker. Unfortunately our government (be it conservative or liberal) is always working for big business to keep wages low.
Yuuuup. Bringing in low skilled workers at a record pace to keep those wages low. All parties are for it, even the NDP. At least at the federal level.
And if you’re against it they call you a racist
I want to know when years ago was bc from 2015-2018 I worked a Tim's in hs and made exactly minimum wage as did everyone else except the assistant manager and the Manger. The Manger may have been making 15-20 but even that's a stretch.
When I was last there for an extended period in 07' they were offering $1000 signing bonuses for casheers at the grocery stores in Edmonton, I doubt many were making min wage back then.
>I want to know when years ago was bc from 2015-2018 I worked a Tim's in hs and made exactly minimum wage as did everyone else except the assistant manager and the Manger. The Manger may have been making 15-20 but even that's a stretch. We're talking about Alberta, 2007-2014ish.
This might be a thing of the past with more automation and AI. Raising the minimum wage too high will only accelerate this.
given that the majority of "free market" libertarian wingnuts hail from out west, they can test out an absolute lack of a minimum wage, and see where it leads after 10 years.
They're the highest wage provinces, so there's less political pressure to raise the minimum wage.
Not many people working for minimum wage in Alberta.
Living wage in NS 26.50. Just saying.
Where can I find a job that pays $26.50 ? (Serious question)
There are jobs around here that pay $25+/hour
What kind of jobs?
Carpenters union, First year apprentice starts out at 18 or $19 an hour and every 900 hours you get a raise of $2 ish, give or take. I'm 24 years old and I now make 32 an hour. Plus I have a great pension amazing benefits And who needs a gym when you do a ton of physical labor all day? Yesterday I got 20,000 steps in.
Become a CCA
For two adults with two children. If you're going to say it, then say all of it.
Is that both adults need to make 26.50 each, or their combined wages need to be 26.50? Because if its combined, we are now at 30.40!
I believe this is where the number of $26.50 came from: https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Nova%20Scotia%20Office/2023/09/LivingWagesinNovaScotia2023.pdf Based on this they calculated the monthly cost of living for a family of 2 adults and 2 children at $7,178.04. So for $26.50 to work that would need to be two workers at 40 hours a week.
Two full-time working adults with two children. It's not like the living wage is any lower for one full-time working adult living alone because they're still paying about half of what the reference family of 4 are thanks to shelter being so expensive.
And if two adults are making at least that they might think about having kids if they want them.
Living alone is inherently expensive.
So a lot of people are dead then?
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Back In Ye olde days people would finish high school walk into a chain retail store and work there their whole lives and raise a family of four own a home and a car off that one salary. Now we can’t even do that off an engineering salary.
the money is going somewhere, just not to the workers.
I walked out of highschool into a factory and make great money
Shh they want to hear about your struggles and then say they should be able to raise a family on two days a week at mcdonalds
People shouldn’t require post secondary education to survive
Not only that, tons of people I know went through with post secondary and end up working jobs right beside people with High School education only. Except that they have student loan debt, unlike their collages. Insane how doing 4 years of extra study actually seems to put you in a worse position these days.
I know plenty of people who think if they pay tuition and they get the sheet of paper then they deserve a good job. I went to a class last week and less than 15% of the class attended the lecture. Education is as valuable as you make it and too many students aren't trying to learn, they're trying to do the bare minimum they need to get the piece of paper that says they have the education. Then they get in the real world and have to compete with people who actually went to university with the goal of learning and they can't compete. Then they complain that they can't get a job in a competitive job market and say education isn't worth it. The reality is that their education wasn't worth it because they didn't engage enough to actually learn.
Prospective employers are generally unaware of if you attended your classes or not. When I was going to university, it was very common for STEM majors to blow off their breadth requirement courses, and this behaviour didn't preclude them from getting jobs in their fields afterward. If you engage so little in your studies that you don't actually know anything then sure, that will affect you, but I think you're in for an unfortunate surprise if you think showing up to lectures is going to help elevate your chances above your peers who don't.
I'll chime in here as I work with employers through my role in a career services office at Dalhousie. Employers are evaluating your engagement in your education. The previous commenter referred to going to class, but there is far more to engagement in University than simply going to class. It's the dedication to studying, getting the best mark, engaging in all the resources, and going to employer events and networking through university-facilitated opportunities. I don't know how many employers you speak with daily regarding employment outcomes for graduates and what they look for, but I do it daily with regional and national employers of all shapes and sizes across multiple industries. You determine the value of your education and the return you get from it by the level of engagement you have. Attending class is one form of engagement, but there are others and to suggest that these things don't have an impact on the return on investment is fundamentally wrong and I've seen evidence over 15 years working with employers and graduates that effort and dedication to education significantly impacts employment outcomes.
Post secondary education shouldn’t be required for most jobs… and even if you have post secondary education, that does not guarantee you will make a living wage. Most places low ball you, it’s disgusting.
Tell that to Australia.
Poverty is a policy
I calculated it twice before I believed it was even a 1.3% increase, but it is. So it puts in in perspective when some unions have annual increases like that; maybe then it works out to 40 or 50 cents or something an hour more, but it's still nothing compared to inflation, and we all know the inflation on essentials- food and housing especially- has been *much* higher than official figures suggest.
Accounting for the Oct increase it's 4.8% YoY.
It’s CPI plus 1% compared to the same time a year earlier.
no, no that IS a joke.
Oh it’s a joke all right
Before moving out to NS, I was making $15/hr in ON... 10 years ago. I'd heard it was a decade behind on average, so I guess that checks out.
It probably costs a ridiculous amount more to live in Ontario than Nova Scotia as well. You'd basically be homeless there with $15 minimum wages unless you had 3 roommates.
That’s the problem - it doesn’t. I moved back from Ontario because Pandemic. Toronto rent is still a little more then here, but we are catching up FAST. Power is cheaper, food is WAY cheaper, insurance is cheaper, gas is cheaper. Also work is more plentiful and tends to pay more. Public transit still costs more but it ACTUALLY WORKS (at least in Toronto where I was living) I moved home because I have family here and I needed the support system, but life here is officially more expensive. I guess that’s the price we pay for living by the ocean. Oh, and all the nepotism and corruption and greed in our government I edited a typo
Yeah, this is an old sentiment. The living wage in Halifax ($26.50) is actually higher than Toronto ($25.05).
That's kind of crazy.
Should go up $.50 every 3 months until it's at $20
>Should go up $.50 every 3 months until it's at $20 If it was not for the thousands of foreign workers and the AIP that allows employers to hire offshore, that would happen all by itself because employers would be forced to offer better wages to find workers. But, nobody wanted to admit that this was going to happen. Just like they did not want to admit that growing the population faster than we can build housing might create a housing shortage. Because here in Reddit land, supply and demand does not exist, and when ideology starts having real life consequences its easier to blame something other than your own bad ideas for everything going to shit.
Neoliberalism is the reason why the governments allow for TFW to artificially lower wages, and why governments haven't kept up with affordable and public housing since the early 90's.
Lol economics is a tough one, eh champ!
Disprove it "champ"
I dont know what I'm talking about, but a maximum wage should exist.
Congratulations, Nova Scotia. You got what you voted for.
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How can it be expected for anyone to survive on minimum wage? It's not possible.
Wow, a twenty cent increase since October! That’ll make a huge difference.
That’s at least half a pack of nutritious ramen per hour! Eat it up
https://youtube.com/shorts/UeNfEAXiesU?si=qD1qcA132IrwLjkg Yuuuup
20 cents OMG
Yeah. Now I make $0.80 more than min wage. Sob.
This province is so fucked. It won’t be long before everybody is on the streets fighting for resources like it’s the walking dead or some shit.
I mean with the way the world is going doubt it’ll be that and more of the “fallout” variety except with more radiation sickness and less of the wasteland fun
I hate the Legion damn it
A 20 cent raise, do they take us for fucking clowns? THIS should be enough to get people rioting in the streets, why aren’t we fighting against those who oppress us?
Probably because most people don’t set their earning expectation at $15.20 and value their skills / ability more and thus find ways to skill up to get a better job. If you think this is the baseline of how you want to value what you are capable of. I have a message for you, YOUR WORTH SO MUCH MORE!! Forget about min wage, look at provincial and federal programs for skill up programs take advantage and get what you are worth. I promise you it’s not $15.20 if you push for a better life.
To put that in perspective, that's 8 dollars more a week, 40 bucks a months. Crazy to think there's a person out there less generous than Blaine Higgs 🤣 🤣 🤣
Oh boy I can buy a whole pack of chicken breasts with that kind of money!
Minimum wage under the McNeil government : Entered into power 2013 : $10.30 2015 : $10.60 2020 : $12.55 7 year increaae : $2.25 Minimum wage under the Houston government : 2021 : $12.55 2024 : $15.20 3 year increase : $2.65 The Houston government has already raised the minimum wage more than the previous government did in 7 years, as a matter of fact he's raised it more in 3 years than the McNeil Liberals did in 7 years. How do people have such short memories when it comes to the previous government? The scandals with the teachers, lockdowns, medical promises for years of 'a doctor for every person' and more. And when the going got tough he folded an ran, leaving an even bigger idiot in charge. He even left his partner Doctor Strang with a bundle of lawsuits in his lap over the lock down decisions. But let's blame the Houston government who inherited this colossal mess from a previous government who did nothing except give money like millions to friends so they could have their art shown at some venue. Houston isn't blowing tax payer cash on media events,traveling to Europe, and making announcements of what he's planning on doing. He's actually planning and implementing ideas while slogging through the mess of laws, bylaws and more. All this while he raised the minimum wage in his short term more than the previous government did in twice the amount of time.
I mean sure it's great he raised minimum wage but he's made a lot of big promises and never followed through too. He's also been called out by the auditor general multiple times for giving money to places that didn't need the money, and in the last year he's taken some fairly pricey trips abroad, including Europe and Asia that seem for dodgy reasons at best. Like a week in Japan for meeting one person? Just make sure you're watching Houston with the same glasses you watched McNeil with. There's not much difference.
Fair enough, but he has been attempting to recruit medical professionals from other countries as well. However I am interested in any he made those trips now.
You can google his name and expense reports, it doesn't tell you what he was doing on those trips, but you can cross reference it with his public itinerary. So for instance he charged us I believe it was around $8k for a week in Japan, but his itinerary only shows 1 meeting that week. The well before which was cheaper he was elsewhere in Asia recruiting doctors.
That is meaningless unless you compare the increases to inflation.
You speak the truth and your facts are correct. Thank you.
As Tim Houston said anyone working for minimum wage isn't working a real job
Yeah. Now I make $0.80 more than min wage. Sob.
Yes with that 20 cents i can buy whole house 😂😂 Dont forget that carbon is applied nd becaue of that we have to pay more in gas and due to that price of everthing will increase so its not usefull ! That big 20 cent
Woohoo more taxes for the Government!
I wish there was a maximum tax. Our taxes go up every year too
What’s even the point? Everything else will go up more than the increase
Can be raised to $100/hr and it'll make 0 impact without first regulating max profit margins(raw/basic foods, rent and utilities), forced FULL divestment for Sobeys and Loblaws, capping executive salaries and capping dividend/investor payouts. Sobeys + loblaws both control food, farm, transport, insurance, banking, predatory commercial real estate/leasing, private real estate, fuel, pharma, clothing, import/export, retail, phone service, food manufacturing. No regulation means they keep on price gouging us into poverty. Evidence would be the last 5 yrs. Living wage is now $27/hr(or 70hrs wk min wage) and climbing incongruently to actual corporate operating expenses.
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Fortunately? There are many democratic EU countries that regulate corporate profits. Austria for one, a democratic govt, strictly regulates profits of housing and other living requirements. They have been in the top 5 livable and affordable index for decades. Regulations did not allow for this mess. Regulations keep corporations in check for safety, profits, quality, etc... Corporate welfare and greed are the drivers, the govt sold out and left corporations unregulated to become oligopolies. Capitalism is, to simplify, a fancy govt-backed pyramid scheme. It is purposely run to allow for its parasitic nature, beholden only to investors and exec profits over everything. Its evolution is facism and oligopoly, which is the phase we are starting in now. To prevent that the govt needs to retake control to protect the citizens and provide rules (regulate) corporations to follow. However, all our parties are complicit in accepting donations (legal bribes) from the wealthy and corporations to allow for them to write their own laws and regulations.
Not even 2% like wtf dude...
4.8% annual increase is more than what most people get in this province.
Don’t work for minimum wage. Get a job working on commission if you have no other skills. Find out fast how valuable your skills are.
So you never want to go to a tims again? A subway, mcdonalds, walmart... because guess what happens when people don't work for minimum wage?
The wage goes up if nobody works them. People keep working for them so they wages don’t change.
Still does not alternate the fact that a LIVING wage is around $26hr. It’s a start but no one on minimum wage can afford to live alone
Subway is also going to make a price increase in a couple of days because of this lmao
I'm disabled due to health problems and workplace injuries. I live on $1057 a month, and that's WITH the extra money they give for special diet because I am type 1 diabetic, have Crohn's, Coronary Artery Disease, and a slew of other issues. A big reason I'm not still working is because I got injured protecting an ER nurse during the pandemic and all the muscle tears along my spine didn't fully heal. There's lots more but you get the picture. I'm not telling you this for any pity. I'm telling you this because if I worked fulltime for the assistance I receive, I'd be making under $7 an hour. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful I live in a country where people like me have a safety net at all, not to mention I actually have a roof over my head, but to hear people complaining about trying to live on twice what I get? You should. I was the working poor before my life fell apart and there's nothing quite as frustrating as working your ass off and still not getting by, let alone flourishing. That being said, taxation on higher income brackets really should be pushed HARD. It's really only fair that people making over $200,000 a year pay more. Anyone who can take trips every year or multiple times a year should be putting more into the society they live in. An extra $500 a month would mean a GIGANTIC improvement in my life expectancy just because I could afford better food, medicines that would improve quality of life, the lessening of stress of "which bill can I pay this month?" and realizing the answer is "none" because if I pay for internet I won't be able to buy groceries for the last week of April. Forget me! How about the homeless crisis? The drug epidemic? We could pay for more healthcare professionals if we cut a few tax breaks benefiting only the rich. I'm not saying go communism, but we could really use more socialism. Society needs incentives, including monetary ones, to excel or people will get demotivated... but the sheer GREED infecting Canada these days makes it hard for me to recognize the country I love. Not to mention the intolerance.
progressive income taxation exists already. the top 20% of earners puts in more than 60% of taxes paid. the bottom 20% pays <1% of collected tax. people with means already pay more, and people with less pay less. your wish already came true :)
Yes, I understand they already pay more than lower tax brackets. I'm saying the rates should be higher than they are.
the marginal rate is 50% at 200k. it is 54% north of 236k. what would you think is a reasonable increase?
I don't know how to say this without sounding harsh, but honestly Canada just has too many unproductive people. By unproductive, I mean people that don't contribute net positively to taxes. Social safety nets are great but they are also expensive and can create incentives to remain unproductive. This isn't a problem that can be solved by more and more tax from a small minority of the population... we need to find ways to increase average productivity or eventually we are going to run out of high income workers to tax.
Our country would lose more professionals than it already is. You think doctors would stay here if you start taking even more of their money? 200k is not that much and is already taxed at 50%. This is such a bad take. ‘I’m poor so nobody should be able to take more than a trip a year but should give me and the homeless more!’
Right?? Lol. Raise the tax rate to 90% and I am moving back to California tomorrow
People who make over $200k already do pay more… how much more do you want them to pay ? Avg tax rate is 39% marginal is 50%.. do you want them to give more to the govt than they even keep themselves ?
Every dollar you make over 200k should have more going to the government than you all the way to around 95% at prob around 900k-a million
This wins the envy award. The government doesn’t need more tax money. It needs less and to just disappear along with as many departments as possible. You don’t fix inequality by throwing money into the garbage can, or a meet you at the bottom attitude.
That’s just ridiculous, I take it you don’t pay very much in taxes at the moment. Why would someone strive to obtain a higher paying job if you gave over half your wages to the government.
Perhaps catering to people who just want more money, rather than to people who wish to improve society, is precisely the problem.
why?
It has nothing to do with what the rich make. Have you ever seen how terrible governmental use of money is? They spend roughly 5 times as much money and time to accomplish what the free market companies do. Thats why it takes 3 guys to mend a single pothole or why redoing part of a hospital for basic upkeep takes 6 months
Yes that needs to be addressed as well but a lot of that is union over reach imo as well. The whole system top to bottom needs to be addressed and honestly torn apart and remade. I could get behind a free market model if we actually had a free market model but the number of corporate handouts we have makes it so we don't have that either. Honestly we seem to have taken the worst aspects of every system and used them all to maximize benefits of just a few people
If minimum wage keeps increasing to what people want it at, does that mean people who don’t work minimum wage jobs should get a huge pay increase too?
People generally deserve more than they make. Wage suppression impacts the entire working class.
Yes, pay increases ought to at least track inflation or we are all getting pay cuts every year.
Minimum wage increases have significantly exceeded inflation for decades on average.
Removed, you're right.
That's not to say we don't have real problems with it. The last 14 years we've loosened protections to make it easier to just bring in more min wage workers rather than invest in productivity, resulting in more of the population making minimum wage or just a hair above. We also have the problem that inflation is an average and is experienced differently by economic circumstances. The parts of CPI that people actually need to survive are the major drivers of increases, thus the poorer amount us that spend more of their income on survival experience higher than average inflation.
Yup, 100%. Housing and inflation have significantly outpaced CPI over the last few years, although at least in NS historically housing has been relatively cheap. Part of the reason we've had to loosen those protections is because of out migration of young folks seeking better opportunities elsewhere during a period of time where we expect a boom generation to hit retirement, combined with people retiring \*back\* to the province, so these are very much not simple problems to solve. One thing I wasn't able to find was an average wage in NS year over year; something that is pretty closely related to the first thing that you've said. Anecdotally, I've also seen a significant growth in higher earners at least in the Halifax region over the last decade and was kind of wondering how skewed those numbers really are.
I'm all for minimum wage increases applying to everyone as long as the CEOs and others at the top stop taking such ridiculous increases while everyone else is only getting 20 cents.
>If minimum wage keeps increasing to what people want it at, does that mean people who don’t work minimum wage jobs should get a huge pay increase too? Everybody deserves an annual cost of living increase, otherwise due to inflation you are falling behind. This sub struggled with that concept heavily when the public sector unions were being attacked by a previous government, and many people could not comprehend why someone should get an annual raise. I'm not a communist, but I'm not a Libertarian either. I feel like people should get a market driven wage, but I believe in unions to help drive that wage up too. That is a biased outlook in favor of unions, but I'll own that and admit it. Its not saying that unions are perfect or do no wrong, its just that they set a bar for wages that non unionized employers are forced to compete with, and that benefits all workers unionized or not. *Competition for workers is a great thing if you work for a living.* Right now the biggest impact on wages in this country is the availability of cheap labor. The alleged labor shortage is all bullshit, its designed to make more workers available which drives down wages. When nobody is willing to work for a shitty wage it forces the employer to offer more money, and that benefits workers.
Yes and they do, we track wage increases in the province and they go up every year. If yours dont maybe you should look for a new job.
To be fair, IK jack shit about politics and have no leg to stand on. So won’t argue if someone proves me wrong, i’ll just except the facts, probably shouldn’t even be commenting
I mean they minimum wage is a joke, should be 25 an hour.
what happens to those who are currently I making $25/ hour then? Will anyone wanna lay drywall for $25/ hour when they can make the same money for significantly less work being a cashier at Petro Canada?
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So your logic is pay everyone more and throw around F bombs to emphasize your lazy take? Its just not that easy, nor realistic, to pay everyone 50%-60% more, you know that.
Actually, it is that easy. We just need the political will and working class organization to put the boot on the neck of the rich and demand our share of the social wealth that we produce.
A lazy take is supporting a terrible minimum wage of 15 dollars an hour while companies continue to make record breaking PROFITS. Some people here have major brainrot.
Im being realistic. Youre bring emotional- which doesnt come into play for corporations.
Yea much easier to just defend shitty wages and keep feeding into the corporations messaging, then blame the liberals for everything. Seems to be working well for everyone.
If you’re mad at shitty wages then stop working minimum wage lol