Sabina Wex<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ll be paying you $950 if you get the job,\u201d my interviewer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA week?!\u201d I exclaimed excitedly.<\/p>\n
He laughs. \u201cNo, that\u2019s the lump sum for the eight weeks you\u2019ll be working.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was stunned. $950 for eight weeks? That\u2019s $80 a week\u2014the amount you would make in an eight hour shift at a minimum wage job. I would be working for at least eight hours a day, five days at a week, at this camp, and make in a week what I could make in a day. At any other institution, this would be an unacceptable wage; but at the summer day camps of Toronto, this is completely normal.<\/p>\n
One of the questions on the application that I had filled out prior to the interview was how much I would like to be paid for the whole summer. I had written down $2870, which is what I had calculated I would earn for eight weeks at a minimum wage job. My Hurray. I signed up for child labour with a few bonuses on the side.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not even joking when I say that being a counsellor is almost like child labour. You\u2019re working incredibly hard, controlling a bunch of kids, who aren\u2019t always going to be very It\u2019s not just this particular camp that pays so badly, it\u2019s the majority of day camps. I talked to a few friends of mine who worked at day camps last summer, and they all said they also only got paid around $950 for the eight weeks.<\/p>\n I know what you\u2019re thinking: it\u2019s camp and you\u2019re going to have so much more fun than you would working at McDonalds!\u00a0 I agree; working at McDonalds Since nobody else seemed to be very upset about the low pay that day camps offered, I decided to investigate on my own. I soon found out that all childcare workers are exempt from the minimum wage law and that their employers decide how much they get paid. Not only does this affect us camp counsellors, but it also affects any day care \u201cHoney, I just don\u2019t know why it\u2019s like that,\u201d said the operator at the Ministry of Labour. \u201cThat\u2019s just the way the legislation is. If you want to change it, call your MPP.\u201d<\/p>\n I took this ignorant woman\u2019s advice and called Dr. Eric Hoskins himself. Unfortunately, after calling him twice, and leaving messages both times, the Doctor refused to call me back.<\/p>\n Since the government wouldn\u2019t call me back, I took it upon myself to call the Ontario Camps Association (OCA) and confront them about their unjust wages for counsellors.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, sweetie,\u201d said the operator at the OCA, \u201cwe only deal with the health and safety standards of the camps.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo you don\u2019t care about the counsellors?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, of course we do!\u201d said the operator. \u201cBut the Ministry of Labour\u2019s in charge of their wages, not us. Try the Ministry if you want to know about the pay.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks for the tip!<\/p>\n The summer day camps of Torontoand the Ontario <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sabina Wex \u201cSo we\u2019ll be paying you $950 if you get the job,\u201d my interviewer said. \u201cA week?!\u201d I exclaimed excitedly. He laughs. \u201cNo, that\u2019s the lump sum for the eight weeks you\u2019ll be working.\u201d I was stunned. $950 for … Continue reading
\ninterviewer saw this as he flipped through my application and must have sensed
\nI was tad concerned about the low pay. He explained to me that at this camp,
\nthe benefits you gain are not just <\/em>money, you get a chance to gain leadership experience, meet some really cool <\/em>people, and receive reference letters
\nfor university.<\/p>\n
\ncooperative, and have some long days for staff meetings and overnights. Plus,
\nyou have to fit in the commute time. You already aren\u2019t getting paid the proper
\namount, and now you aren\u2019t getting paid for all the extra hours you put in.<\/p>\n
\nis probably a lot less stimulating. However, I don\u2019t know about you, but I am
\ntrying to pay for university next year. I know my parents are probably going to
\nbe contributing most of the money, but it would be nice to take a bit of the onus
\noff them and pitch in.<\/p>\n
\nworkers, nannies, babysitters, etc. I found it disgusting that the most
\nimportant and hardest job\u2014taking care of children, our future\u2014was the only one
\nthat was able to be paid even less than minimum wage. I decided to call the
\nMinistry of Labour and get to bottom of this thievery and find out how on earth
\nthe Ontario government approved a bill like this.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment need to end this monetary skim-page towards their camp counsellors.
\nHowever, they probably never will, as counsellors continue to work for them for
\none-fifth of minimum wage. Since the students of NT are the average ages that
\ncamp counsellors are, we need to take this upon ourselves and act for the
\nfuture of camp counsellors. We must demand a fair pay of minimum wage, even if
\nit\u2019s awkward to ask; we must stand up for our rights, even when the camp
\ndirectors tell us to sit down; and we, most importantly, must spread the word
\nto tell all the teenagers in Toronto to tell these camps that just because
\nwe\u2019re young, does not mean we can be taken advantage of.<\/p>\n