Local restaurant worried about raise to minimum wage
Posted Aug 4, 2016 4:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Another restaurateur is adding his name to a list of businesses that will have to lay people off if the provincial government increases the minimum wage.
Cory Morgan owns the Water’s Edge pub in Priddis, and he’s unsure he’ll be able to afford all of the increases.
“With the economy being poor and where we’re living, there are a lot of people who were in the oil field, so they’re choosing to stay home,” Morgan explained. “We’re on a tight margin. We can’t take too many more new expenses. The carbon tax coming up in January really scares the heck out of us.”
Morgan adds, they know business will even further slow down in winter, but they aren’t sure by how much.
“As we raise our prices to make up for things like the minimum wage increases and so on, even though servers make more in tips than they do by the hour, it still costs me. As we raise prices, of course, people will choose to come out less. It’s just an ugly cycle.”
660 NEWS reached out to the government, but so far, the minister of labour has not responded.
