At Monday's Quesnel Council Meeting:
a) Michell Vik re: On-going St. Laurent public works. See his letter here. Good to see while these businesses support the on-going construction, they are simply asking the City to work with them, when the construction is complete in early October, to allow the previous vehicle/foot traffic to return to this businesses as it was previous
At Tuesday's WL Council Meeting:
a) Monica Johnson, of the Social Planning Council, will be presenting a Policy Paper called A Living Wage for Williams Lake - see that paper here. The Social Planning Council says a Living Wage for Williams Lake is $15.77/hour
While the paper does not ask Council to immediately implement a Living Wage Policy for Williams Lake - it does promote awareness of the underlying issues around a Living Wage Policy, namely business paying enough wages to their employees to comfortably live (ie: rent, food, utilities and necessities for children). I suspect that the delegation will be received. I don't reasonably expect to see Council to ask City Staff to move forward on this item, especially so close to a election in mid-November
Both the City of New Westminister and the Township of Esquimalt have adopted Living Wage Policies. See the City of New Westminister policy here
Some issues that would have to be considered by Williams Lake City Council, should it be decided to move forward and adopt a Living Wage Policy include:
a) Would it apply to the Unionized City of WL Employees Collective Agreement or how would the Living Wage Policy apply in that case?
b) Could the City impose the Policy on contractors doing work, on behalf of the City?
Otherwise, passing a City Policy should only apply to City Operations. As the Social Planning Council states - if we want WL Council to encourage local businesses to pay good wages for its' employees - the tool that Council should use is called a "Council Resolution"
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