SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) is facing stark criticism with the decision to create a new minimum wage committee.
The Minimum Wage Adjustment Committee - comprising one business owner, one employee and three Government of the Northwest Territories employees - was established at the end of April and is currently searching for members who will be appointed to six-year terms. The business and employee representatives have yet to be found.
The committee's purpose is to review the NWT minimum wage rate every two years and make recommendations to possibly adjust that rate.
The committee is being criticized for its uniform representation and strict hiring criteria.
"These are narrow guidelines," said Mary Lou Cherwaty, president of the Northern Territories Federation of Labour.
"I don't know any government employees who make minimum wage. That struck me as weird. We've done a lot of work in the issue of minimum wage at the national level and we've seen different makeups of committees across the country. This is so far beyond anything I've seen."
Cherwaty said she sent a letter to ECE Minister Jackson Lafferty on April 25 informing him of her concerns but has yet to receive a reply.
In it, she cited the example of Newfoundland and Labrador, where a minimum wage committee took a different approach to selecting its members.
"The employee representative was appointed to the committee after being nominated by the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour," she said.
"Normally the Federation of Labour is the voice for workers but (the GNWT) won't take recommendations from us on who is best suited to sit on this committee."
Ben McDonald of Alternatives North also sent a letter to Lafferty on April 25.
In it, he stated he is encouraged by the government's efforts to increase the minimum wage but, like Cherwaty, also expressed his concern about the makeup of the committee.
"We consider that the committee should have a more diverse representation, including a labour representative and an individual who has lived in poverty," he stated.
The letter also raises the issue of gender and how it affects women disproportionately to men.
"With three GNWT members and only one employer and one employee representative, they may as well set the policy themselves," McDonald added.
Cherwaty said her other concern involved the six-year term committee members would be appointed to.
"If this committee is actually structured properly then the minimum wage should be set at a living rate, indexed to inflation, and then you wouldn't need a board anymore," she said.
Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro, who has been pushing the issue of minimum wage for a number of years, said she was hoping the wage would be tied to the cost of living.
"This could easily be done," she said.
"I don't think we actually need a committee. We could quite easily do with something less bureaucratic."
The last minimum wage increase took place April 1, 2011, when it went to $10 from $9 an hour.
