Federation of Labour Mixed Feelings on Wage Boost

Thursday, March 17, 2011 03:53 AM

Vancouver, B.C.- The B.C. Federation of Labour is welcoming news the minimum wage will be going up in B.C, but disappointed the province is going to introduce a "tip wage" for liquor servers.

Under the increases announced yesterday, today's minimum wage of $8.00 an hour will be boosted to $8.75 as of May 1 this year, up to $9.50 an hour as of November 1, and up to $10.25 as of May 1 next year.

Alcohol server wage for liquor servers will be changed in the following schedule
Today 8.00/hr
May 1/11 $8.50
Nov 1/11 $8.75
May 1/12 $9.00

* The alcohol server wage will apply to employees who serve liquor directly to customers or guests in licensed premises as a regular part of their work.

The B.C. Federation of Labour's President, Jim Sinclair says $8.75 is a poor start "BC will still have the lowest minimum wage in canada, but we're hopeful that the Premier will keep her promise to reach $10.25 by next May."

Sinclair also expressed disappointment that the BC Liberals were introducing a tip wage for liquor servers. The BC Fed says workers who earn tips are routinely asked to pay for items like theft and breakage, including dine and dash customers along with forced sharing of tips.

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Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2011 03:53 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: redneck on March 17 2011 5:30 AM

who cares if these people make tips.Same wage for all.Who thinks this stuff up anyways.Does that mean the government wants to take care of the bars more than the people who work there.A lot of money made on alcohol so I guess that shows you where this governments priorities are...

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on March 17 2011 7:35 AM

Sharing tips is not different from everybody walking through the plant gate in the morning having to belong to the same union and working for the same set wages!

Sharing tips is basically a union principle.

Jim, you should be in favour of it!

Posted by: He spoke on March 17 2011 7:35 AM

75 cents don't seem like a hell of a lot. But from Christi's point of view its a 9% increase in wages.

Its about time they dealt with this, keep the money flowing. I am an employer. The more money flows around the better everyone does.

Posted by: seamutt on March 17 2011 9:58 AM

So PG what would you do?

Posted by: Vulgar Sage on March 17 2011 10:12 AM

You do realize that anything less than a fifty cent raise in this day does not amount to much in fact most of that is taken back in taxes..it`s a good idea but left on the table far too long and instead of more taxes should have been introduced.
I miss going out 2-3 times a week for some time more for lunch or dinner. I can afford lunch or dinner and a tip but now I cant afford lunch, dinner a tip,pst,gst,hst.

You know an average size diner (50 seater) a server can average 25-50 dollars in tips and when I was in the industry most servers shared tip voluntarily..guess what I did on tipout day..I went out and spent it before it burned a hole in my pocket..now I find myself waiting for a stimulus tax rebate so I can walk to the corner store of which are far and few between these days to buy a bag of chips ...Thank you Liberals for NAFTA,GST,HST AND A GREAT EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE...i CAN HARDLY WAIT TO GET TO HELL TO BE ONE OF YOUR TORMENTORS...

Posted by: RIP commonsense on March 17 2011 10:22 AM

He Spoke
Don,t tell him what you do.
Some posters on this site advocate blacklist/threaten/bully those they don,t agree with.
I would love to post only with real names.
It would eliminate the disgusting, biased, racist and just plain stupid comments by some of the serial posters.
It is very easy to armchair quarterback from behind some pseudonym.

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on March 17 2011 11:05 AM

seamutt:"So PG what would you do?"

I would do the tip sharing thing and not complain about it like Sinclair! I think it is a fair arrangement.

Sinclair complains about everything all the time. You may have noticed.

So seamutt what would you do?

Posted by: NoSeverance on March 17 2011 6:46 PM

Alcohol server wage? Sounds like descrimination to me. Minimum wage is minimum wage, it should be the same for everyone making that wage.

Posted by: redneck on March 17 2011 7:01 PM

exactly

Posted by: dow7500 on March 17 2011 8:33 PM

Food/pub service providers have been hammered by the hst. Their employees have always been insulated from basic min wages by tipping. When was the last time you tipped a 7/11 cashier. Thats why they started here.

Posted by: metalman on March 17 2011 10:23 PM

$.75/hr. more is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I think maybe a staggered minimum wage the way the Liberals have planned it is the right thing to do. A smart, hardworking server with a passion for customer service should be able to do well on tips. I would hope that peer pressure would induce the rest of the staff to perform as well as the front end people, to fairly earn their shre of the gratuities.

Hey, if the serving staff provide good service, I leave a generous tip. If the service is lacklustre, they will get a small tip, or no tip at all. That may not be fair to the folks in the kitchen or to the busboy, but if the key member of the team is not providing the kind of service that warrants generous tipping, something has to change.
I base the gratuity entirely on their level of cordiality, speed of service, knowledge of the products on offer, and professionalism. Serving staff are not entitled to a tip, they have to earn it.
If you are not into tending to a customers whim, but you still expect to be given extra money for doing your job, I suggest you find another line of work.
metalman.