It could cost the City of Winnipeg more than $3 million to pay a “living wage”’ to all direct employees and contracted workers who provide city services, a new report has found.
Bumping up pay to a “living wage” of $19.21 per hour would boost the pay of 516 direct City of Winnipeg employees, at a price of $894,000 more per year, as per the public service report. The city expects another $859,000 of ‘cascading costs,’ due to other employees with wages just above the cutoff who would seek similar increases.
Officials predict applying the living wage requirement to those who provide city services through contracts would increase contract prices by about 30 to 40 per cent. Last year, that would have cost up to $1.6 million more.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Coun. Cindy Gilroy (entre), who has advocated for the living wage, said she thinks the expense is “quite doable,” especially if council approves the wage hike solely for direct city employees, at least at first.
Mayor Scott Gillingham said the report confirmed his belief that wages are better set at the bargaining table.
“For the City of Winnipeg to implement a living wage would be no less than $3 million by the time you add third parties as well… I’m voting to receive it as information. Wages should be set through collective bargaining and not on the floor of council,” said Gillingham.
Coun. Cindy Gilroy, who has advocated for the living wage, said she thinks the expense is “quite doable,” especially if council approves the wage hike solely for direct city employees, at least at first.
“I don’t think it’s a very big cost to the city… We would be making sure that we are giving our employees a fair living wage to make sure that they can afford rent, they can afford groceries, all of those costs that have just gone up and up and up,” said Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre).
The report notes workers who don’t yet make at least $19.21 per hour include some 311 customer service representatives, locker-room attendants, cashiers, clerks, custodians, aquatic instructors, library shelvers and others.
Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said he supports a living wage for both direct and contracted employees. Mayes said council’s recent decision to further study a major revamp of Kenaston Boulevard indicates the city can afford the pay hike. The Kenaston project being sent for a business case is expected to cost at least $586 million, which could jump by up to $151 million to cover debt.
“It’s hard to claim poverty when you’re moving ahead with huge projects like that. I do think this (living wage) would help and the money would be kept (locally),” said Mayes.
“These are our lowest-paid folks. We should be doing something to address that,” he added.
The city report cautions that the price to offer a minimum wage for workers under third-party contracts is “a very rough estimate,” since contractors don’t typically share their labour costs with the city.
The $19.21 wage rate was calculated by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The city report says the rate assumes part of workers’ earnings would be spent on private health insurance that the city already covers.
Many city employees who make less than $19.21 per hour also have ambulance/hospital, vision, dental and paid sick leave benefits other workers may not, the report notes, estimating the value of those benefits to be $2.18 an hour.
If the city subtracted that amount and offered a $17.03 per hour “adjusted living wage” to direct city employees only, the city’s estimated expense would drop to about $498,000.
Council’s executive policy committee is expected to debate the report on July 9.
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Living wage analysis
Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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