An Ontario restaurant owner says the province鈥檚 minimum wage increase to $14 an hour and $12.20 for liquor servers means he will now be making a lower hourly wage than his employees.
Stelios Dimakos has owned Shorty鈥檚 Grill in Owen Sound, Ont., for 11 years. He says he鈥檚 always worked hard to pay his roughly two dozen workers fairly and everyone already made more than the old minimum wage of $11.60 an hour and $10.10 for liquor servers.
But with the more than 20 per cent minimum wage increase overnight, Dimakos says his employees will now be making more per hour than him. He says he puts in about 90 hours of work per week and is the first one at his restaurant and often the last to leave.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see my kids a lot of the time,鈥� he says.
Dimakos calculates that his wages work out to about $12.50 per hour. The minimum wage for most workers, including dishwashers, rose from $11.60 an hour to $14 an hour in Ontario on Monday 鈥� an increase of 21 per cent. Liquor servers saw their minimum wage rise from $10.10 to $12.20 per hour 鈥� an increase of 23 per cent. That is what they make before tips, which are often a majority of a server鈥檚 pay.
Dimakos says the combined with another planned increase to $15 and $13.05 for liquor servers on Jan. 1, 2019, will hit his bottom line by about $150,000.
In order to absorb that impact without paying himself even less, Dimakos says he is raising menu prices between about 50 cents to $1 per item.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a choice,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to cut staff. I don鈥檛 want to cut the quality of my product, so that鈥檚 the only solution.鈥�
Prices could go up even more if food costs increase substantially as a result of the minimum wage, Dimakos says. Wages are about 30 per cent of his expenses, and food costs are over 40 per cent.
鈥淪o we鈥檝e got a 21 or 22 per cent increase in wages, but what about our raw product?鈥� he says. 鈥淚s it going to be another 10 per cent increase there? That鈥檚 huge in our industry.鈥�
Dimakos says he wants customers to know that he鈥檚 not raising prices in order to increase profits. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just doing this to try and stay alive and survive.鈥�
earlier this year found that the new minimum wage would lead 98 per cent of owners to raise prices, 97 per cent to reduce labour hours, 81 per cent to lay off staff, 74 per cent to explore labour-saving technology and 26 per cent to close at least one location.
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, an independent watchdog, has said that the minimum wage hikes could result in a loss of 50,000 jobs.
Dimakos says he鈥檚 not opposed to the minimum wage going up but that it鈥檚 too much to absorb overnight. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 give us time to slowly, gradually increase our prices and adjust,鈥� he says.
Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the minimum wage increase in May, with the bulk of the increase coming into effect just months before the province鈥檚 fixed election date, June 7, 2018.
The opposition Progressive Conservatives have said they would maintain the increase to $14 but raise minimum wages to $15 more gradually, increasing them 25 cents per hour annually until 2022.
B.C.鈥檚 New Democratic government is planning to raise the province鈥檚 minimum wage from $11.35 an hour to $15. that it will set up an arm鈥檚-length 鈥渇air wages commission鈥� to come up with a 鈥減lanned, responsible path鈥� to a $15 minimum wage.
Alberta, which consistently has the highest weekly wages of any province, from $13.60 to $15 on Oct. 1, 2018.
Ontario Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn told The Canadian Press last week that he doesn鈥檛 believe the 鈥渄oom and gloom鈥� scenario and that the Liberals are lowering taxes for small businesses to help them cope.
鈥淚t's going to take an adjustment,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t's going to take a change.鈥�
With files from The Canadian Press
