I am not sure if I want to make a case for fair wage laws or against them so this blog will find me sitting firmly on the fence.
Recently Port Coquitlam city council voted to make all municipal employees and subcontractor employees wages to be at least fair wage or better. I have to wonder if the union is going to demand comparable wage increases for all the workers who already make that much due to higher skill sets, more responsibilities and longer service. You can bet the public sector union will want a total new pay scale because of this and all the other public sector unions in other municipalities will also attempt to follow suit. Tighten your belts people, taxes are going up.
I bank at Van City and get exceptional service from a credit union that is still competitive with the banks and makes enough money to give some back to its shareholders, local charities and retained earnings. It does this despite the fact that it is a fair wage employer and since I know the Credit Union makes a profit other banks should be able to match what they do and still make a profit, yet most don't. I suspect that if they became fair wage payers we would find more charges and increased fees for currant services. It would seem to me that the main difference here is community engagement and responsibility verses corporate profits.
So it would seem that instituting a fair wage policy like some Vancouver and lower mainland municipalities have would force all wage payers to pay fair wages. Or would it? Take gardening and landscaping crews, some of which are subcontractors. They increase staff during the summer season so a large number of employees are students or adults hoping to eventually get on full time. The competition for those workers are independent landscaping and gardening contractors who work for households and business and they will tender those jobs out. These companies will need to match the wages paid by the Municipalities and their contractors or have no workers, this will not be good for small business. How many homeowners and businesses can afford to see a 30% increase in their bills?
Two things I see happening here right away.
1. Tax increases to pay for increased remuneration of basically low skilled and entry level jobs.
2. Price increases for landscape services and possible reduction in number of jobs as some will opt for lower level of services to compensate for higher costs.
More taxpayer supported employees and less private sector. Not a trend I want to see.
Now for the unforeseen consequences of these wage decisions.
Setting wages for all unskilled and semi skilled workers to the same level will reduce the incentive to get training and acquire new skills as everybody gets paid the same anyways. The currant semi skilled and skilled workers will certainly want wage increases as they have more responsibility and bring more to the table productivity wise. Next thing will be the lower and middle management will want more money because who wants to supervise workers who make more money than you do.
In my opinion this is exactly what will happen when we raise minimum wages to 15 an hour. Where is the incentive to get further training or take on more responsibility. Costs up, skills shortage up, I cannot see much of an upside here.
So, why do I think this will happen?
In my own trade we have fewer and fewer going through the process to become journeyman carpenters. WHY?
On union sites a red seal carpenter makes not much more than a laborer but is much more trained and is more responsible for productivity and outcomes and works just as hard. On non union sites a framer or a concrete former with 4 years experience and no schooling makes the same as a red seal journeyman carpenter. Why in the world would anyone take a pay cut to apprentice. Then take time off work and pay tuition to get trade training for $0 financial compensation.
So what is the big deal, why not just run jobs with specialist, semi skilled workers?
Productivity! Most framers have limited understanding of site services, structural integrity, drywall, insulation, finishing, waterproofing, soundproofing, fire suppression, visual affects and customer service. Without this understanding teamwork on the jobsite takes a big hit. A framing crew frequently makes the job of following trades more difficult, deficiencies increase and when framers teach framers how to frame we lose even more because the plans they get are structural and they read them in isolation from the mechanical, electrical, landscape and site plans and all are designed to compliment each other. It take a trained General Carpenter to understand how they fit together. As the currant generation of carpenters retires they will be replaced by specialists who do their jobs like an outdoor factory but without highly skilled generalists they will be in competition instead of complementation with other trades.
If I want more money, better jobs and more opportunities than I need to upgrade my skills, training and responsibility level and the same should apply for everyone else. We should be rewarding excellence in the 21 century not mediocrity.
Recently Port Coquitlam city council voted to make all municipal employees and subcontractor employees wages to be at least fair wage or better. I have to wonder if the union is going to demand comparable wage increases for all the workers who already make that much due to higher skill sets, more responsibilities and longer service. You can bet the public sector union will want a total new pay scale because of this and all the other public sector unions in other municipalities will also attempt to follow suit. Tighten your belts people, taxes are going up.
I bank at Van City and get exceptional service from a credit union that is still competitive with the banks and makes enough money to give some back to its shareholders, local charities and retained earnings. It does this despite the fact that it is a fair wage employer and since I know the Credit Union makes a profit other banks should be able to match what they do and still make a profit, yet most don't. I suspect that if they became fair wage payers we would find more charges and increased fees for currant services. It would seem to me that the main difference here is community engagement and responsibility verses corporate profits.
So it would seem that instituting a fair wage policy like some Vancouver and lower mainland municipalities have would force all wage payers to pay fair wages. Or would it? Take gardening and landscaping crews, some of which are subcontractors. They increase staff during the summer season so a large number of employees are students or adults hoping to eventually get on full time. The competition for those workers are independent landscaping and gardening contractors who work for households and business and they will tender those jobs out. These companies will need to match the wages paid by the Municipalities and their contractors or have no workers, this will not be good for small business. How many homeowners and businesses can afford to see a 30% increase in their bills?
Two things I see happening here right away.
1. Tax increases to pay for increased remuneration of basically low skilled and entry level jobs.
2. Price increases for landscape services and possible reduction in number of jobs as some will opt for lower level of services to compensate for higher costs.
More taxpayer supported employees and less private sector. Not a trend I want to see.
Now for the unforeseen consequences of these wage decisions.
Setting wages for all unskilled and semi skilled workers to the same level will reduce the incentive to get training and acquire new skills as everybody gets paid the same anyways. The currant semi skilled and skilled workers will certainly want wage increases as they have more responsibility and bring more to the table productivity wise. Next thing will be the lower and middle management will want more money because who wants to supervise workers who make more money than you do.
In my opinion this is exactly what will happen when we raise minimum wages to 15 an hour. Where is the incentive to get further training or take on more responsibility. Costs up, skills shortage up, I cannot see much of an upside here.
So, why do I think this will happen?
In my own trade we have fewer and fewer going through the process to become journeyman carpenters. WHY?
On union sites a red seal carpenter makes not much more than a laborer but is much more trained and is more responsible for productivity and outcomes and works just as hard. On non union sites a framer or a concrete former with 4 years experience and no schooling makes the same as a red seal journeyman carpenter. Why in the world would anyone take a pay cut to apprentice. Then take time off work and pay tuition to get trade training for $0 financial compensation.
So what is the big deal, why not just run jobs with specialist, semi skilled workers?
Productivity! Most framers have limited understanding of site services, structural integrity, drywall, insulation, finishing, waterproofing, soundproofing, fire suppression, visual affects and customer service. Without this understanding teamwork on the jobsite takes a big hit. A framing crew frequently makes the job of following trades more difficult, deficiencies increase and when framers teach framers how to frame we lose even more because the plans they get are structural and they read them in isolation from the mechanical, electrical, landscape and site plans and all are designed to compliment each other. It take a trained General Carpenter to understand how they fit together. As the currant generation of carpenters retires they will be replaced by specialists who do their jobs like an outdoor factory but without highly skilled generalists they will be in competition instead of complementation with other trades.
If I want more money, better jobs and more opportunities than I need to upgrade my skills, training and responsibility level and the same should apply for everyone else. We should be rewarding excellence in the 21 century not mediocrity.
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