It’s official: City of Burnaby is a living wage employer

By DUSTIN GODFREY JANUARY 28, 2020

A living wage advocate offered “hearty congratulations” to Burnaby city council Monday evening as she presented the city with a living wage certification.

Adrienne Montani, provincial coordinator of First Call: BC Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition, said her organization recently published its 23rd child poverty report card. She said the report found one-in-five children in the province are still growing up in poverty.

“We know that growing up in poverty undermines children’s health,” Montani said. “We also know that most poor children in the province live with parents who are in the workforce, or in low-wage work or precarious work.”

First Call also calculates the living wage for Metro Vancouver each year, based on the income needed in a family with two parents and two children to cover a “conservative budget of expenses, food, shelter, transit, transportation, child care and other necessities.”

Through that work, First Call offers a living wage certification for employers who pay all employees the living wage and require all significant contractors to do the same.

The City of Burnaby now joins six other municipal governments in B.C. who have attained the living wage certification, Montani told council.

“And this council’s speedy implementation is particularly appreciated,” she said.

Source: https://www.burnabynow.com/news/it-s-official-city-of-burnaby-is-a-living-wage-employer-1.24063441