Restaurant industry reacts to minimum wage increase

VANCOUVER - The BC restaurant industry will be shelling out an estimated $295 million in additional payroll costs, as the provincial government approved a 28% 3-stage increase in the general minimum wage over the next 14 months.

With declining sales over the last three years, in addition to the HST and tougher drinking and driving penalties, the new wage increases are seen as hurtful to both restaurant owners and employees.

"The restaurant industry creates thousands of job opportunities in communities across the province, but many operators are now stepping on the brakes," says Mark von Schellwitz, Vice President Western Canada with the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA). "Imposing these massive wage increases and eliminating the training wage at a time when sales are declining and food costs are increasing will hurt the very people this announcement is intended to help. Restaurant owners will be forced to cut hours to control their costs and employees will end up earning less."

The CRFA felt that the only positive news from the announcement is the government's implementation of a gratuity wage differential.

"A gratuity wage will help soften the blow by recognizing the fact that liquor servers are in fact not minimum wage earners," says von Schellwitz. "This new differential will help somewhat to protect the hours of work and tip income for servers who rely on receiving those hours to earn their gratuities. However, the licensed restaurant employers are still faced with a 12.5% increase in server wages."

Vancouver - Vancouver City News