(okay, maybe the picture is a little exagerated for Alberta...)
From the Globe and Mail...
Alberta eases child-hiring rules
"Restaurant owners in Alberta are now able to hire children as young as 12 without first getting provincial approval as a result of what government officials call a "procedural change" in employment practices.
But labour groups have charged that the switch leaves vulnerable children at the mercy of an industry already difficult to police and say it amounts to a little more than concession a sector desperate for cheap labour.
"We're horribly opposed to this," Jason Foster, director of policy for the Alberta Labour Federation, said.
"We think this is bad public policy, bad for children, bad for customers and bad for Alberta's reputation.""
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5 comments:
The BC Government allows children as young as 12 to work now. A note from their mom is good enough.
I cannot believe Canadian governments would be so willing to allow this to occur again.
So much for advances made over the last 50 years.
I think they are doing it because businesses can't get people to work for minimum wage in Alberta and instead have to pay 8 or 9 dollars to attract people as young as 14 or 15.
And that's a good thing (that the market wage is above minimum). But the living wage in Edmonton is somewhere near 12 dollars an hour, 40 hours a week.
Whenever a government enables a population segment to participate in the workforce, an inherent by-product of the policy is to drive wages down and increase the supply of labour. The byproduct, though, can become the intent.
On the flipside, do kids as young as 12 now have to get paid an actual minimum wage for babysitting?
It's offical: childhood is dead.
kgp
I would be worried if the AFL didn't blow a gasket over this. :P
See my comment on this
Child Labour Returns to Alberta
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