FREDERICTON — Come September minimum wage will rise to $10 in New Brunswick, but politicians and business leaders, such as the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA), continue to discuss the subject.
In fact, the CRFA is urging the government to introduce restaurant tip and training differentials. “The minimum wage increase introduced in early 2010 has been a job killer. Between 2009 and 2010, 2,100 jobs were lost in foodservice with 1,300 involving young people under the age of 25,” said Luc Erjavec, CRFA’s vice-president, Atlantic Canada. He added: “A tip differential will help protect the hours of work and tip income for those who rely on those hours to earn tips, and a training differential will encourage employers to hire more first-time employees,” says Erjavec.Recently, Alberta and British Columbia joined Ontario and Quebec by introducing a tip differential for liquor servers. Nova Scotia and Ontario have training differentials to encourage hiring first-time employees.
