B.C. urged to boost minimum wage

The president of the B.C. Federation of Labour has called on the provincial government to raise theminimum wage, saying the province's lowest paid workers are getting left behind.

Jim Sinclair said the current minimum wage of $8 an hour should be increased to $10, and the $6 training wage should be scrapped.

He said there are too many working people in B.C. living in poverty.

"Statistics from the government point out [that] 96,000 people get the minimum wage and a full 20,000 more people get below the minimum wage, between six and eight dollars an hour."

Sinclairadded that whileBritish Columbiaisdoing well economically,it has the second highest number of people working for minimum wage in the country, ranking behind only Newfoundland.

Students struggle on minimum wage

He also noted that the low-wage sector is filled to a large degreeby young people.

Shamus Reid of the Canadian Federation of Students, who took part in Wednesday's news conference,said 56 per cent of minimum wage earners are under 25, many of them students struggling to survive.

Reid also pointed out that in the five years since the minimum wage was frozen by the Campbell government,tuition fees have soared in British Columbia.

StudentZariayah Azam works part time in the retail industry, making $8 an hour. She would never risk asking for a raise on her own.

"I don't think I would want to do that or take the chance."