Calgary businesses sign pledge to not cut youth minimum wage

Kristen Fong talks to a business owner about why the company is choosing to ignore age when it comes to wage.

CALGARY – A rollback to Alberta’s minimum wage for young people won’t apply to many workers, including those working at this year’s Calgary Stampede.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Booth says organizers decided to stick with $15 for everyone this year, given the timing of the government’s changes.

The Stampede held its major hiring fair less than a week after Jason Kenney’s United Conservative government announced the change as part of its Open for Business Act on May 27.

READ MOREAlberta legislators in marathon debate over workplace rules

About 150 businesses in Alberta have already signed a pledge to not lower minimum wages for youth.

One of those companies is Calgary-based Analog coffee.

“Minimum wage is just a level of income that the government sets,” said owner Russ Prefontaine. “For us, our salaries and what we pay our employees are due to skill and their training. It has nothing to do with age, it has nothing to do with gender.”

WATCH: Creator of Alberta15.ca talks to Breakfast Television about the pledge

Brian MacKay who organized the pledge on the website Alberta15.ca said he understands what young workers are facing, having left his parents house at 16.

“There’s a lot of people who tend to be on the upper side of the economic scale that say, ‘get an education, get a better job.’ They seem to not realize how hard it is to actually do that when you’re deciding if you have to pay your power bill or rent that week.”

The new $13-per-hour minimum wage for workers aged 13 to 17 takes effect Wednesday.

The $15 rate, the highest in Canada, remains in place for everyone else.

Premier Jason Kenney announced the province was rolling back the minimum wage for young people in the service industry after an outcry from Restaurants Canada and other employer groups who argued the rise to $15 was seriously impacting their bottom line.

WATCH: Businesses vow to keep minimum wage at $15

 

With files from The Canadian Press and CityNews

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