The President of the North Bay and District Labour Council is disappointed with how some businesses are reacting to the minimum wage hike like having employees pay more for benefits. Labour Council President Henri Giroux says owners aren’t waiting to see what the overall effect of increasing the minimum wage will have on sales.
Giroux says it’s possible that with higher wages, people might buy more goods but some businesses have not taken the time to see what develops and instead he says they are jumping the gun by hitting its workers with added costs. The labour council president says owners should be asking their employees if they have ideas on how to offset the minimum wage hike and argues some owners have acted in a disrespectful way toward the workers. “They say we’re the boss and it’s what we’re doing,” Giroux said. “There was no discussion on how can we make this better.”
Giroux understands that owners have a business to take care of but they need to also look after their workers. However what’s happened at some businesses with their reaction to the minimum wage hike has him concluding that for some businesses it’s all about greed and how much money they can make.
