233063
233034

BC  

No minimum wage in WHL

The B.C. government quietly decided earlier this year that junior hockey players should not make minimum wage, preempting a class-action lawsuit calling for fair pay for junior hockey players.

The government passed a cabinet order exempting the Western Hockey League from the Employment Standards Act entirely.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed for current and former Canadian Hockey League players, in Toronto and Alberta, calling for players to receive a fair wage, but the suit has yet to be certified.

Junior hockey players currently make a few hundred dollars a month for travel and training.

The issue many WHL teams face is profitability.

"If you were to add minimum wage to the cost of our operating expenses for the players, which is extensive, and to the operating costs of our teams it would not make our businesses viable in those centres," said WHL Commissioner Ron Robinson.

- With files from CTV Vancouver



More BC News



232391