With minimum wage set to increase in three stages between now and May 2012, businesses in Grand Forks will be affected differently.
The general minimum wage, which is currently at $8 an hour, will rise to $8.75 an hour on May 1, $9.50 an hour on Nov. 1 and finally to $10.25 an hour in May 2012.
Businesses that have people serving alcohol as part of their regular duties, will see a special minimum wage that will increase to $8.50 an hour this May, $8.75 in November and to $9 in May 2012 to account for tips.
The training wage of $6 an hour, for workers with less than 500 hours of work experience, will also disappear come May 1, 2011 and will be replaced by the aforementioned general minimum wage.
Peter Perepelkin, owner of His ‘n Her Fashions, said that the increases are necessary but doesn’t think the B.C. Liberal party went about it the right way.
“They did it without any consultation with the business community, particularly in regards with how it’s going to affect small businesses,” Perepelkin said.
“As far as the increases are concerned, I think it’s overdue but I think it’s come at a bad time. This is a time of economic recovery, I don’t think the businesses can actually afford the increases at this time, it should’ve happened later and perhaps over a longer period of time.”
He said that the increases may mean that he has to cut back on staff hours or reduce some staff.
He also said that the abolishing of the training wage could affect any future hires.
“That might mean that I won’t be able to hire students from school because when it comes right down to it, I can’t hire somebody that is 16 or 17 years old and pay them minimum wage when I have someone else that’s working close to the minimum wage, who has all kinds of experience,” said the owner of His ‘n Her Fashions.
“These students have no experience, no life skills, and I think that it’s really, totally unfair.”
Susan Klarner, part owner of Kocomo’s Coffee House, thinks that small businesses will be negatively impacted as they try to adjust.
“With the wage increase that’s coming in next May at $10.25 an hour, if you were paying your higher (waged) employees at $10.50 or whatever, you’re probably going to have to bump them up to $15 an hour and small businesses right now can’t afford that increase,” she said.
Stu Dale, owner and manager of the Grand Forks Station Pub, said the increases aren’t a surprise given that the minimum wage hasn’t increased in nearly a decade and has similar concerns to that of Klarner.
“It’ll cost more to do business and also, when you put somebody up from $8 an hour to $10 what do you do to the people at $10? Do you have to put them up too? We’ll just have to work it out, I guess,” Dale said.
He also said that his business will gradually have to increase prices as that is the cost of doing business.
Dale said that he isn’t too concerned with the special minimum wage for alcohol servers though.
“A lot of my servers that have been here for a while get at least that,” he said.
Roger Soviskov, part owner of Jogas Espresso Cafe, agrees that the increases are overdue and said that he doesn’t mind paying his staff more – he also doesn’t think that he will have to raise prices to keep pace with the minimum wage hikes.
“We’re not going to raise prices. I’ve seen a couple of coffee increases already in the last year and now the dairy increase but people are still upset over the HST, so we’re going to keep prices the same, for the next while anyways,” he said.
Kathy Boisvenue, part owner of the Home Hardware in downtown Grand Forks, said that her business will see price increases but it’s not just because of the wage hikes.
“There’s going to be increases and it’s not just because of the wages, it’s because of the gas prices and freight. The cost of raw materials is going up to make the products so who’s going to get slapped with it? The consumer,” she said.