Blimey! Royals Won't Even Pay Staff a "Living Wage"!

Did you catch the story this week about how cleaners of the British families various mansions have commenced a campaign to receive the London “living wage”?  Here is the Toronto Star piece. Unbelievable.  The cleaners don’t work directly for the Royals, the work has been contracted out to the low-bidder.  The cleaners are paid more than minimum wage, but less than the London Living Wage, which is a standard that employers are encouraged to pay in the City.  It is 7.85 BP, compared to a minimum wage of 6.45 BP. A “living wage” is usually defined as that amount sufficient to allow the worker to pay for the basic necessities of life, plus have a bit left over for savings or discretionary income.  British taxpayers fork over 30 million pounds a year to the Royals. Its a great time for a campaign like this, given the millions of dollars the Royals are about to throw away on a wedding.  When asked why their cleaners can’t be paid the Living Wage, the Royal’s spokesperson fell back on an old standard that companies use to explain why people doing work for them are treated so poorly:  These are not our employees, so there’s nothing we can do about their wages.
That’s utter nonsense.  The Royals could simply include a condition in the tender that the winning bidder pay their employees at least the Living Wage when they are doing work for the Royals.  The City of Toronto has long (since the 1800s) had a “Fair Wages Policy” that requires contractors awarded City work to pay their employees union rates or, for non-union workers, the prevailing wages and benefits in their field, and requires compliance with acceptable number of working hours and conditions of work”.    Mayor Ford would like to get rid of this program.  In the United States, many cities have adopted “living wage” requirements for all contractors doing work for the city.  A few Canadian cities have done this as well. This report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives pegged the living wage for Toronto at $16.60 per hour.
The minimum wage is set very low in Canada. In 2009, it would pay a full-time employee $17,000 per year. It’s very hard to raise a family on that income in Canada. That is why some push for a “living wage”.
Do you think Canadian governments should legislate a “living wage” instead of a “minimum wage”?