To the Editor,
Re: Poverty coalition pegs Nanaimo’s living wage at $18 an hour, July 14.
The article and the movement are well due. I take exception to the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce CEO’s talking point that the issue needs more discussion. Businesses and governments have for too long wrongly decided what a person’s hourly wage is worth.
Raising the minimum wage benefits businesses, workers and the economy. It is ridiculous to insult the consumer in thinking that we would not support a store that pays a decent wage. I pay 85 dollars an hour to have my automobile fixed, you don’t think I’d pay an extra half buck for my pizza?
Store owners need to decide whether their economic model works in the community with the price of fair wages factored in. If not, asking workers to work at a loss, and subsidize your enterprise, might just be asking too much.
Klaus NennNanaimo
