This Saturday the minimum wage in B.C. will go up by 65 cents to $17.40 an hour, but the B.C. Asian Restaurant Café Owners Association thinks that’s a bad idea and is urging the provincial government not to raise it anymore.
Association president David Chung says the higher wages go, prices at your favourite eateries will also have to rise, potentially putting some places out of business.
He believes eating out in today’s economy is a treat for many and if people don’t want to spend more to eat out, it will hurt owners.
“They still want the luxury to eat out, but they spend less. Where they used to spend $100, now they want to spend the same amount, so what do they do? They eat cheaper stuff — less stuff,” explained Chung.
“We pay people more money, yet we get less money in return. The ultimate person getting hurt is the owner.”
The other group of people getting hurt in all this, according to Chung, is the consumer.
“Because we have to raise prices, otherwise we can not survive. Owners can only be hurt for so long. They can not afford it any longer, they’ll close the restaurant,” he said.
Chung tells CityNews sister station OMNI News that workers today, many of whom are struggling to put food on the table, are doing just fine.
“They have tips and minimum pay. They can survive quite well. For some of them, the tips are pretty good and way higher than the minimum pay.”
Chung says many restaurant owners and their customers are already struggling after months of sky-high inflation and worries the wage increase will put unsustainable pressure on the industry.
“It’s not good for anybody. The economy or people. But I’m not the government, I don’t call the shots. When they want to increase, I have to increase,” added Chung, who admitted he will be looking to raise prices at his restaurant, Jade Seafood Restaurant in Richmond to stave off having to close.
B.C.’s minimum wage will go from $16.75 to $17.40 on June 1.
“The 3.9 per cent increase also applies to minimum-wage rates for resident caretakers, live-in home-support workers, and live-in camp leaders. The increase will help approximately 240,000 workers who currently earn less than $17.40 per hour,” the B.C. government explained in a release.
Despite Chung’s outcry, the province says it will continue raising wages.
“Government has made regular, gradual increases to the minimum wage to provide certainty for workers and predictability for businesses. This is the third year that the adjustment reflects the government’s commitment to tie annual minimum-wage increases to inflation.”
Come June 1, B.C.’s wages will be the third highest in the nation, after Yukon and Nunavut.
–With files from OMNI News, ManYan Li