CUPE 3903 is entering a new round of bargaining with the employer! Has your pay at York kept pace with inflation? Or are you falling behind? If the value of your wages doesn’t increase faster than the cost of living, the purchasing power of your pay, known as your “real wage”, hasn’t grown. This pay gap is made even worse by legislation to cap public sector pay increases, like Bill 124.
This tool lets you calculate the value of your “real wage”, by comparing your starting pay rate at York against inflation over time. You may find that the “real wage” you should be earning for 2023 is significantly higher than the amount you are actually earning right now! This pay gap is caused by wages not keeping pace with inflation, essentially gradually reducing the value of your pay.
In 2022, the Ontario Living Wage Network found the living wage threshold in Toronto to be just over $42,900 per year, an ever-increasing number that many CUPE 3903 members’ pay still falls short of. For the past three years Bill 124 has suppressed our wage increases at 1%, while the cost of living skyrockets around us. Our bargaining surveys tell us that 85% of Unit 2 members, and 96% of Unit 1 members, are struggling to keep up financially. Many have had to take on additional employment, increasing debt and rely on social assistance and food banks to be able to cover the increasing cost of rent and grocery costs.
The calculator uses Ontario data from the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a measure of inflation across the country. One way to ensure our pay keeps up with inflation is through bargaining with the employer.
CUPE 3903 has open bargaining, which means all members can attend bargaining meetings to observe, participate, and pass notes to the bargaining team. What are YOU willing to do to secure the wages you deserve! Stay up-to-date on ways to get involved by signing up for our weekly newsletter.
These calculations use Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a measure of changes in the cost of living. The CPI is the most widely used measure of inflation in Canada, but it’s not perfect. Many people will face different changes in their cost of living.
Detailed monthly CPI data (and a lot more) are provided by Statistics Canada for free and are available through their website. Source: Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, Table 18-10-0004-01.
Please note this tool only deals with the dollar value of your wages. It doesn’t factor in the changing value of workplace benefits. It also does not account for changing tax rates or factor in the value of public services, which contribute significantly to the well-being and standard of living for households.
