It’s Time for a Fair Wage, not a Poverty Wage!

Justice for Workers, a coalition of low wage immigrant and young workers, women, community groups and union members is building a campaign in Toronto and across Ontario to raise the minimum wage…

The minimum wage in Ontario has been frozen at $6.85/hour since 1995. In 2001, the poverty line for a single person living in a large city was $18,841. In contrast, the annual income of a person working 35 hours per week at the minimum wage is approximately $12,500 – 34% BELOW the poverty line!

To reach the poverty line, a person working full-time needs to make at least $10/hour.

Over one million people in Ontario earn wages below the poverty level. Sixty-two percent of these workers are women. Thirty-two percent of people of colour, and thirty-eight percent of women of colour, make less than $10/hour. Fourty-one percent of recent immigrants earn less than a poverty-level wage.

Justice for Workers, a coalition of low wage immigrant and young workers, women, community groups and union members is building a campaign in Toronto and across Ontario to raise the minimum wage. Federal and Provincial politicians recently approved salary increases for themselves of over 20% - it’s time for low wage workers to get a raise!

Justice for Workers is demanding that the Government of Ontario raise the minimum wage to $10/hour.

The campaign needs your support. Check out the “resources” section for materials to help you launch a minimum wage campaign in your community. For more information, e-mail Justice for Workers at justice_for_workers@yahoo.ca.

Resources: (links open in a new browser window)

Minimum Wage Campaign Kit
Download the campaign kit produced by Justice for Workers. It includes background information, an endorsement letter and form, a petition, a sample resolution and more (RTF document).

Justice For Workers (J4W) 2002 Bulletin
Download Justice for Workers' most recent bulletin (RTF document).

Campaign Flyer
This is a great flyer that you can distribute in your community (PDF document) - requires Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available for download FREE at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

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Page last updated January 27, 2003