Chris Stevens, owner of Kaboom Chicken restaurant in Toronto, hands an order to a customer in December. Ontario’s new $14 per hour minimum wage took effect Jan. 1 and Stevens has already taken steps to ensure his restaurant can afford the added expense.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
Minimum wages increases in jurisdictions across North America could have a big impact on the restaurant industry. Here’s how restaurants are trying to adapt.
Donald Trump says cheap Mexican labor is hurting American workers. But isn’t it also hurting Mexican workers?
AP Photo/Guillermo Arias
Trump has attacked NAFTA, saying that cheap, under-regulated Mexican labor hurts American workers. If he’s right, then NAFTA negotiations could be a chance to push Mexico on workers’ rights.
Wages are low among hospitality workers, who are disproportionately female.
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Women in minimum wage jobs earn 10% less than their male peers. Wages are systematically lower in jobs more commonly held by women.
An Amazon worker loads a bag of groceries into a customer’s car trunk at an AmazonFresh Pickup location in Seattle in March 2017. Amazon hopes to offer the service to its Prime customers soon and promises crews will deliver items to cars in as little as 15 minutes after orders are placed. Loblaw is preparing for Amazon to introduce similar services in Canada.
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Loblaw is playing defence against Amazon, the boogeyman of retailing. But if Canadian grocers went on the offensive, they’d be able to deliver much more than food to Canadian homes.
The ACTU has launched a campaign to create a living wage.
AAP
The ACTU has proposed Australia adopt a “living wage”. This might improve the incomes of some people, but it wouldn’t solve “working poverty”.
AAP
A Senate committee has made the right decision by rejecting the Fair Work Commissions recommendations to slash penalty rates - here’s why.
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Around the world, McDonald’s is known for its staunch and well-resourced attempt to remain ‘union free’.
Canadians may spend days or weeks serving as jurors, but most provinces offer scant compensation.
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A Canadian federal report recommends paying jurors at least $120 daily. Provinces should take action.
People gather in Montreal to demand a $15 minimum hourly wage in Quebec and across Canada.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
The minimum wage is rising in many parts of Canada, but it masks the impact of seismic changes to the agriculture, food and retail industries brought about by new technologies.
Young people don’t have a right to equal pay.
duncan/flickr
Until you reach 25, employers can pay you less than your older colleagues.
One’s based on average earnings growth, the other on living standards.
Nick Ansell/PA Wire/PA Images
Crucially, they differ in how they are calculated and the ages of workers that they apply to.
Will these changes really raise wages?
Topher Seguin/Reuters
The business models of the gig economy often stand in the way of implementing minimum wages or conditions.
Yes, it makes the world go ‘round.
Mark Strozier/Flickr
There are economic arguments to be had for ensuring an appropriate rate of growth of real wages.
Reducing wages of Australia’s lowest-paid workers will only worsen the existing economic situation.
Dan Peled/AAP
Employer groups are calling for a cut in real wages for low paid workers, but this would only exacerbate current problems.
Lots of ground staff are on minimum wage.
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The wealth bonanza enjoyed by top flight football clubs does not trickle down to many of their employees.
Low-wage workers were strong opponents of Puzder’s nomination.
Mike Blake/Reuters
The purpose of the Labor Department is to advocate on behalf of workers. As such, it deserves a qualified leader of competence and commitment.
President Jacob Zuma delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Sumaya Hisham/Reuters
South Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma, promised radical economic transformation in his 2017 state of the nation address. A lot of what he said in support of this promise is alternative facts.
A wage ceiling is worth talking about.
Jane Barlow PA Wire/PA Images
The idea of a minimum wage has become widely accepted so why is a maximum wage so controversial?
Ondrej Zabransky / Shutterstock.com
Despite performing the same job, one of BA’s three cabin crew fleets earns far less than their colleagues.
Job seekers wait for employers searching for casual labour on the streets of Cape Town.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
South Africa’s proposed national minimum wage must not be seen as a solution for all the country’s economic problems but as a floor to protect the most vulnerable workers.