SASKATOON — Restaurants Canada and Saskatchewan restaurateurs are pushing back against the Saskatchewan Government’s decision to increase provincial minimum wage from $11.81 to $13.00 per hour on Oct. 1, 2022, and to $15 per hour on Oct. 1, 2024 — a 27 per cent increase over the next three years. The decision came without consultation and moves away from the province’s traditional indexation formula, which links adjustments to Average Hourly Wage to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), arguing the increase is coming at a time when hospitality businesses can’t afford it after being hit with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This minimum-wage announcement comes at the worst time for Saskatchewan restaurants. Operators are already struggling to survive, grappling with increased debt from the pandemic, as well as rising costs and menu inflation pressure, all while trying to bring back price-sensitive guests to recover and re-build from the pandemic,” says Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president Western Canada, Restaurants Canada. “The minimum-wage announcement will make it even more difficult to hire back employees. It will also result in fewer employment opportunities and less work hours for service staff. The announcement also ignores Restaurants Canada’s ‘do no harm’ recommendation to help restaurants recover.”
