It has been 12 months since British Columbia's unions challenged Premier Gordon Campbell to give minimum wage workers a raise, and what happened? Campbell boosted his own pay by 54 per cent, and according to some media reports the premier has said the minimum wage will not increase.

That is a tough message to swallow for the close to a quarter million British Columbians who earn less than $10 per hour.

While minimum wages remain frozen, the cost of housing, transit, child care, and tuition continue to climb. At $8 per hour, when you factor in the cost of living, B.C.'s minimum wage is actually the second lowest in Canada.

Thankfully, British Columbians are not buying Campbell's line. Polling commissioned by the B.C. Federation of Labour shows 79 per cent of British Columbians support increasing the minimum wage to $10 per hour.

Twenty-four municipalities have already endorsed the call to increase the minimum wage and thousands of British Columbians have signed our petition.

With B.C. recording Canada's highest poverty rates, even the premier's own progress board has acknowledged the growing inequality in B.C., noting, "For some time now, the proportion of the population falling below the low-income threshold has been greater in B.C. than all other provinces."

It's not a surprise when you look at the low-income cut-off. Here in B.C., a full-time worker must earn at least $10 per hour to remain slightly above the poverty line.

B.C. has the dubious distinction of being the only province in Canada that hasn't boosted the minimum wage in the last six years.

Don't expect it to change anytime soon with attitudes like this from finance minister Carole Taylor, who said earlier this year, "I think this is an unusual time to be talking about minimum wage when we have the lowest unemployment ... in ... history." She, in fact, may believe what she said, but it didn't stop her from voting to increase her own take home pay by 29 per cent.

B.C. Liberals claim a 25 per cent increase to $10 per hour is too much for employers too bear, but ignore the fact that in 2002 they cut the minimum wage for new workers by the same level to six bucks.

Even employers say they often must pay more. Ian Tostenson, of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association, says the average starting wage in his industry is near $12 per hour. Similarly, Mark Startup, of the Retail Merchants Associations says, "In our world.... minimum wage policy is not an issue."

Though the government claims that between 2000 and 2006 overall employment in B.C. grew by 13.2 per cent, the number of jobs paying between $8 and $10 per hour grew by 25.5 per cent.

So just who is it that the Campbell Liberals are trying to protect? Are the underpinnings of our economic growth so vulnerable that we cannot increase the minimum wage? Between 2001 and 2006, as a share of B.C. GDP corporate profits increased 90 per cent, almost three times as much as B.C. wages.

Someone is getting ahead; but definitely not B.C.'s working poor. In fact, according to the most recent information available from Statistics Canada, the top 20 per cent of B.C. families took in 47 per cent of B.C.'s total income while the lowest 20 per cent shared just 3.5 per cent.

Today, the minimum wage is more than just an employment standard; it's a reflection of how we treat people who do not have voices in our society.

Campbell doesn't seem to hear the voices of minimum wage workers, so it's time to lend those workers our voice. That's why the B.C. Federation of Labour is calling for an increase to the minimum wage from $8 to $10 per hour and asking union members, our friends and neighbours to support this call.