Boost non-union wages, activists tell city

Poverty activists are calling on the city of Ottawa to increase wages for its non-unionized contract workers.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) released a study Thursday that says workers like janitors, groundskeepers and cleaners don't make enough money to pay their bills.

Nadia Willard, a retired nurse who works with the anti-poverty group, said she thinks the existing minimum wage of $9.50 an hour creates a dependency on publicly funded services like subsidized housing and food banks.

"Ottawa is the fifth most expensive city to live in, and because of that, the low-income cutoff in order to meet your basic needs, such as shelter, food and clothing, would be $13.50 an hour," Willard said.

She said bumping up salaries for contract employees could cost the city as little as one per cent of the city’s budget and would help people reduce their dependence on city services.

"I know $13.50 doesn’t make anybody rich, but it does help feed children, it does help put clothes on your back, and it does help in terms of finding good shelter to live in, and that in itself reduces a burden on the health-care system," Willard said.

Coun. Diane Holmes said she wants to learn more about the proposal.

"If in fact the numbers show that our costs to support people in poverty would go down as a result of people having more income, then I think it’s a very good argument," Holmes said.

The idea will go to a city committee for consideration in January.