As summer begins, @jkenney and the UCP have decided to show their “support” for teenage Albertans by cutting their wages by $2 per hour. Here’s a thread explaining why the anger being felt by young Albertans is justified. #ableg #abpoli #canlab #cdnpoli

The anger is justified because people doing the same work should get the same pay, regardless their colour, creed ... or age. Anything less is discrimination. Full stop.

The anger is justified because, despite UCP talking points to the contrary, the youth wage will kill more jobs than it creates. That’s because it will provide a big incentive for low-wage employers to replace 18+year-old workers with 15-17 year-old workers.

The job-killing implications of lower youth wages aren’t hypothetical. Many jurisdictions around the world have gone down this road and the results haven’t been pretty. One study showed that employment for 18 year olds dropped by 33 percent because of Denmark’s youth wage.

If you want to learn more about the troubling international experience with lower youth wages, read the report we released in May. d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/afl/pages/5052…

But you don’t have to look beyond our provincial borders for evidence that lower youth minimum wages are a bad idea. Here’s what Ralph Klein’s Labour Minister Murray Smith said in the Legislature in 1998: “The (youth) training wage was abused to the point we had to eliminate it.”

But, what about UCP claims that there’s a “jobs crisis” for 15-17 year olds? Put simply, they’re bunk. Youth unemployment rates are always higher than adult rates. Currently the ratio between these two rates is smack dab on the 20-year average. No change, no crisis.

The UCP also argues that the wage cut for young Albertans is justified because the NDP’s $15 minimum wage was a job killer. There is literally NO evidence to support these claims, here in Alberta or in other jurisdictions that have increased their minimum wages.

Here’s an article on how minimum wage increases did NOT lead to the jobs apocalypse predicted by employers and right-wing politicians in Ontario. theglobeandmail.com/business/econo…

Here’s an article from the States coming to a similar conclusion that minimum wage increases don’t lead to job losses. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

And here’s what the employment numbers looked like here in Alberta for the two sectors with the highest numbers of minimum wage workers. Even during a recession, the NDP’s minimum wage policy clearly had its intended effect: higher wages for lower-paid workers, without job loss.

Another way to debunk the UCP talking points on the minimum wage is to compare AB to neighbouring SK. If the NDP’s $15 minimum was the culprit for increasing unemployment for young workers, you’d expect SK (with a $11 minimum) to have better numbers.

But the reality is that AB & SK have virtually identical numbers for youth unemployment (11%) and youth participation rates (63%). In two provinces with otherwise very similar economies (oil and gas) it’s almost as if there’s something else dragging employment down 🤔

So, if the $15 minimum wage isn’t really the economic villain that the UCP says it is, why is the Kenney government cutting the wages of 35,000 Alberta teens? Two answers come to mind. First, we think Kenney is rewarding the many low-wage employers who bankrolled his campaigns.

Second, we think Kenney is doing this because he’s a staunch right-wing ideologue who thinks his job is to cater to bosses, not workers/consumers. Jason is definitely working for someone. But if you’re a working person in Alberta, it’s not you.

Sadly, Kenney is not stopping at attacks on the wages of teens. He campaigned on “jobs, economy, pipelines.” But what we’re getting instead is a low-wage agenda: featuring attacks on the minimum wage, OT, vacation pay, contracts, public-sector wages and the ability to join unions

This “prosperity through poverty” approach has been tried repeatedly by Right-wing cons around the world over the past 40 years. And it has always had the same results: rising inequality (as the rich grab the lions share or productivity gains) ...

... and slower economic growth (as stagnating wages result in sluggish or declining consumer spending).

So, what do we do? Speak out! Push back! Refuse to go down without a fight! Just because Jason Kenney won a majority, doesn’t mean he has a bank cheque to undermine the wages and incomes of thousands and thousands of Albertans.

I’ll end on a hopeful note. Young people are leading the fight to address climate change. Perhaps young people in AB, facing an unjustifiable attack on their wages, will also emerge as leaders in the fight against inequality (which is being exacerbated by right-wing policies).