1. WHO WE ARE

The UN Platform for Action Committee Manitoba (UNPAC) was established in 1995 after the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. At that conference, representatives from 189 countries, including Canada, voted unanimously to adopt the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA) which embodied a new international commitment to the goals of equality, development, and peace for all women everywhere. Canada is a signatory of the Platform for Action. The Province of Manitoba and 45 women from Manitoba were at the conference in Beijing.

UNPAC's mandate is to work for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action as well as other United Nations agreements which advance women's equality. UNPAC supports the objectives of the Platform for Action by working through community action and with other organizations, locally and globally, for equality, development, and peace.

Since May 2001, UNPAC has focused on the area of Women and the Economy, one of the Platform for Action's 12 Critical Areas of Concern. Through our website <www.unpac.ca> and our video, Banging the Door Down: Women and the Economy, we promote women's economic literacy in Manitoba . UNPAC is currently initiating a project in the area of Gender Budgets - a tool for education, and for economic and social analysis.


2. BACKGROUND

Our research on Women and the Economy demonstrates that a key economic concern for women in Manitoba is poverty. Nearly 20% of Manitoba women live in poverty and many more live at risk of poverty. Having a job is no guarantee of release from poverty. A single person in Manitoba earning minimum wage and working 40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year earns $14,560/year, 16% below Statistics Canada Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) Canada ' s unofficial poverty line.If this same person is a single mother with two children her earnings fall 46% below LICO rates. ¹ In other words, a single parent of two children has to work 74 hours per week every single week of the year in order to reach the Low Income Cut-Off.

Minimum wage earners are not simply people new to the work force or those with little education and few skills. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba reports that two-thirds of minimum wage earners in Canada are adults, about half have some post-secondary education, and less than 20% are young people living with parents. ² Women are particularly affected by a low minimum wage policy - two-thirds of all minimum wage earners are women. Women's economic inequality is exacerbated by a minimum wage that keeps them poor.

Women's prevalence among minimum wage earners, combined with women's reproductive responsibilities, means that a low minimum wage leads to child poverty. Poor mothers have poor children - women's poverty is a direct contributor to Manitoba ' s critically high rates of child poverty. Campaign 2000 recently reported that over one million Canadian children live in poverty - nearly 53,000 of them in Manitoba. ³ Manitoba remains the province with the second highest child poverty rate in Canada . Campaign 2000 also notes that nearly 53% of children living with single mother families in Canada live in poverty. ⁴ The child poverty rate will not decrease until women earn a decent income.


Benefits

Because a majority of minimum wage earners are women, raising minimum wage contributes to equality. However, we believe that raising Manitoba 's minimum wage to a living wage will also be lead to increased efficiency for the Manitoba Government, for the following reasons:

a. An increase to minimum wage gives the lowest earners in Manitoba an immediate raise allowing them to participate more fully in the life of our society, economically and socially. Low-income earners in particular are more likely to spend their earnings locally thereby benefiting the local economy and creating additional opportunities for economic growth.

b. As documented by the Women's Health Clinic, poverty is bad for women's health. ⁵ Poor women and poor people in general rely more heavily on our public health care system - an additional cost for Government purses. The Manitoba Center for Health Policy recently reported savings of $61.8 million by improving the health status of all Winnipeg residents to the level of residents in the highest-income neighbourhoods. ⁶

c. People with more income pay more taxes, immediately benefiting government revenue.

d. Poverty directly contributes to many social ills including domestic violence, adolescent crime, and alcoholism. Each of these problems costs our social system greatly and could be reduced if all had an adequate standard of living.

e. Raising minimum wage costs the Manitoba Government nothing. The warning that a higher minimum wage risks losing jobs and threatening the economy is challenged by the evidence in Manitoba over the past few years: minimum wage increases (albeit minimal increases) over the past four years have coincided with growth of the Manitoba economy.

f. Because most employers of minimum wage earners primarily compete against other Manitoba employers (e.g. in the tourism and restaurant industries), their competitive advantage would not be affected. 

3. GOVERNMENTAL COMMITTMENT TO INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

The Beijing Platform for Action, stipulates that signatory countries must:

Review, adopt, and maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty. (Women and Poverty Strategic Objective A.1)

As UNPAC understands the Platform for Action, the Government of Manitoba has an obligation as well as a moral commitment to use policies such as minimum wage to reduce women's poverty. A minimum wage that is below a living wage contradicts Canada's and Manitoba's international commitment under the Platform for Action.

In addition to the Platform for Action, the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recognizes:

the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular: a) Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with: i) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work; ii) A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant (Article 7)

By not raising the minimum wage to a level that provides a decent living, the Government of Manitoba is violating its commitment to this Covenant.

Finally, according to the 1993 Vienna Human Rights Declaration, "Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings; their protection and promotion is the first responsibility of Governments." We remind you of your Government's duty to protect and promote citizens' human rights including their economic human rights such as the right to an adequate standard of living and adequate remuneration for work.


4.  RECOMMENDATIONS

We suggest the following recommendations:

a. We support the Just Income Coalition recommendation that Manitoba's minimum wage be increased to $8.00 as of January 1, 2005. Rather than the annual 25 cents increases we recommend an increase of $1/year until a living wage rate of $10/hour is reached by January 1, 2007.

b. Once a living wage has been reached, we recommend that a policy be implemented to adjust the minimum wage annually to cover increases in the cost of living.

c. We recommend that the Manitoba government focus on creating jobs with inherent dignity and respect. Low-paying jobs with few prospects for advancement and with low social value will not lead to the health and happiness of Manitobans nor to the economic success of our province.