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Tom Cooper

Hamilton Poverty Roundtable

tom[at]hamiltonpoverty[dot]ca

@toomcoopster

Global News: Hamilton business advocates for living wage at final hearing on Bill 148
Posted by Tom Cooper · November 02, 2017 12:29 PM

GUEST COLUMNIST: Let's embrace $15 minimum wage
Posted by Tom Cooper · October 23, 2017 4:24 PM

The Spec: Living wage would mean wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round
Posted by Tom Cooper · September 15, 2017 12:21 PM

Isabella Daley works three part-time jobs to make ends meet.  (NICK KOZAK / SPECIAL TO THE TORONTO STAR)  

Isabella Daley had to borrow $169 from a friend last fall after she broke her ankle. She couldn’t afford an air cast.

Without it, she would have needed more days off work — all unpaid — making it harder than it already was to make it through the month. She’s been in worse situations, though. Not much compares to the pain she felt in 2005 when her 22-year-old son died.

“I didn’t have the money to bury him and why would I? I didn’t have insurance on my kid,” Daley said. “I didn’t have any savings. Who saves for their kid’s funeral?”

She managed, but only with donations from people she’d never met.

Today, Daley, who lives in Hamilton, works three part-time jobs trying to make ends meet. Still she only earned about $15,000 last year, she said.

Read the full story here.