Canadian $100 bills are counted in Toronto, Feb. 2, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy)
Manitoba’s minimum wage will increase by 40 cents to $16.40 per hour, effective October 1, but one labour group says that’s not enough.
The annual adjustment, set under Manitoba’s Employment Standards Code, is tied to inflation. This year’s increase reflects the province’s 2025 inflation rate and raises the wage from $16.00.
Labour advocates say the increase doesn’t keep up with today’s true cost of living.
Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, said the 40-cent hike “falls well short” of what workers need to afford basic expenses such as food and housing.
He noted that, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’s Manitoba office, a living wage in Winnipeg is estimated at $19.77 per hour.
“While the provincial government’s recent budget includes some affordability measures that will benefit Manitoba’s lowest wage workers, including free bus passes for youth, free menstrual products at work and free child care for low income families, boosting the minimum wage to a living wage level would do far more to help these workers and add hundreds of dollars to their paycheques,” said Rebeck.
He added that rising costs for essentials are hitting low-wage earners the hardest and called on the province to replace the current minimum wage framework with a plan aimed at lifting workers out of poverty.
