A recent, province-wide poll shows massive public support for raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
The poll question
The survey question — "To what extent do you support or oppose the provincial government increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour?" — was added to a larger telephone survey commissioned by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE) in September.
Overall support for raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour is at 91 per cent (68 per cent support, 23 per cent somewhat support), according to a news release
“These numbers confirm what our campaign and minimum wage workers have been saying all along — raising the minimum wage is incredibly popular with the general public,” said Mark Nichols, community organizer for $15 and Fairness NL.
“It is time for the provincial government to do what the people of the province clearly support — raising the minimum wage.”
Workers and their families can't wait for another two years of incremental increases and hope for a better outcome from the review process, he said.
“This province has one of the lowest minimum wages in Canada at $12.15 an hour, which means that those who earn it are below the poverty line. This is an injustice that must be fixed," he said.
“With 48,900 workers in Newfoundland and Labrador making $15 per hour or less, many of whom work for massive national and international companies who make billions off the backs of these workers, raising the minimum wage would be a massive economic boost, not only for these workers and their families but for our communities as well."
He said raising the minimum wage will benefit workers, local businesses, and the economy by putting money in workers’ pockets to spend.
The $15 and Fairness NL is a campaign of community organizations, labour unions, activists, minimum wage earners and concerned individuals, who are working to raise the minimum wage in Newfoundland and Labrador.
A questionnaire was administered by telephone by Ryan Research & Communications, a local marketing research compan polling adults aged 18 or older in Newfoundland and Labrador. The telephone data base was comprised 50/50 of landline and cell phone numbers.
Interviewing was conducted from Sept. 17-29.
A total of 500 interviews were successfully completed. The sample size of 500 provides a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20 (i.e. at the 95 per cent level of confidence).
