CAMBRIDGE — Cambridge city council voted to become Ontario's first municipality to pay their employees a living wage on Tuesday night.

The city is officially a supporter of Waterloo Region Living Wage who calculated the living wage in this region is $16.05 an hour.

This means the city has committed to paying all full-time staff $16.05 an hour, but all of the city's full-time staff already make that much or more.

"We show we care about our employees and the community," said Coun. Pam Wolf who said she strongly supported the move.

Coun. Donna Reid said the city can "be a leader … to show other people it can be done."

Cambridge city council voted 6-1 Tuesday night.

A committee will be formed to advise council on the new move.

"You're already there at the supporter level," said Mark Xuereb, president of the Waterloo Regional Labour Council who presented the motion to council.

"The point is to recognize work you already do."

The next step as a supporter of paying living wages would be to transition to paying part-time employees living wages within a year.

New Westminster, B.C. and Vancouver are the only other Canadian municipalities who pay their employees living wages.

The city had been exploring the idea of paying their staff a living wage since July.

Minimum wage in Ontario was raised to $11.25 an hour in October.

Living Wage Waterloo Region based their calculated living wage on the cost of basic needs of a family of four with two adults working full-time and two children.

Xuereb wanted to clarify to city council on Tuesday that as an employer at the "supporter" level of Waterloo Region Living Wage's scale means all full-time staff must be paid the living wage and the employer works toward paying all part-time staff a living wage within the year.

This level does not mean Cambridge has to commit to paying temporary, student or casual workers a living wage within the year, not until the city agrees to a higher level of commitment with the organization.

The city estimates the cost of paying these workers a living wage would be $524,894 per year.

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With files from Jeff Hicks

- $16 an hour? Cambridge may carry living wage banner