Sudbury's living wage now $16.98 an hour, says worker advocacy groups

The living wage in Greater Sudbury is now $16.98 per hour, according to workers' advocates in the region.

Every year, the Ontario Living Wage Network calculates the living wage for cities across the province. According to the network, the living wage is what is required for an individual to meet their basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and transportation, and to have enough leftover for one modest vacation.

"Essentially, the calculation is based on what income per hour a person would need to make, plus any income they receive from the government," said Mélodie Bérubé, an outreach worker with the Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre, which partners with the Ontario Living Wage Network each year.

In past years, the network calculated the living wage based on a family of four, with two adults working full-time and two children.

"And we were just finding that that's not really reflective of a lot of families," Bérubé said.

This year the number is a weighted average between a family of four, a single parent with one child and a single adult with no children.

The Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre has lobbied for employers, including the City of Greater Sudbury, to pay their employees the living wage. 

"A good portion of the municipality is paid a living wage," Bérubé said, referring to the city. "What we want them to look at is a good portion of the workers that are not paid the living wage. A lot of the contract workers, some of the seasonal workers."

In an email to the CBC, City of Greater Sudbury spokesperson Maggie Frampton said the city currently has 10 employees, out of 273, who are paid less than $16.98 an hour.

"Most of the roles are temporary part time positions such as building attendant, junior arena maintenance person, park attendant, school crossing guard and others," the email said. "The city implemented a fair wage policy that obliges contractors to pay wages in accordance with the provincial fair wage schedule."

Minimum wage increase

Sudbury's latest living wage calculation coincided with the province's announcement it would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2022.

Bérubé said she was happy the minimum wage increase was happening, but added it should have been done five years ago.

Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said with inflation on the rise, and costs for everything from gas to groceries increasing, now was the right time to increase the minimum wage.

When asked how the wage increase might affect businesses, he said many small businesses are already paying more than the minimum wage, due to a labour shortage in many sectors, such as the restaurant industry.

"Many businesses are paying well above the minimum wage right now because we have this challenge of 300,000 jobs going unfilled due to this labor shortage," he said.

McNaughton added the province has invested in skills training to help workers find second careers that pay more than minimum wage, such as jobs in the trades.

"We're investing in a new Second Career program that will give each individual up to $28,000 to get retrained in one year or less," he said.