The Living Wage Campaign for Families announced today three more employers on the Living Wage Employers list, bringing the number of businesses and non-profits supporting a living wage up to 32.

Businesses who agree to become Living Wage Employers must ensure direct employees, as well as any contracted workers they hire, are paid a wage calculated by the Campaign to be enough to afford rent, transportation, food, education, and taxes for a family of four in their region. In Metro Vancouver that hourly wage is $19.14, $18.07 in Greater Victoria, and $16.37 in the Fraser Valley.

"It's pretty significant in Canada," said Michael McCarthy-Flynn, organizer for the Living Wage for Families Campaign, adding only Vibrant Communities Calgary has recruited more businesses to a living wage.

McCarthy-Flynn says the three new organizations--Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, Roadhouse Interactive, and TRB Architecture and Design Inc.-- employ roughly 100 people altogether and an unknown number of contract workers. He doesn't believe the wages of any employees or contracted workers have changed in the two months since the three agreed to a living wage, but he says it will be part of future negotiations with contracted workers. Most companies that have agreed to become Living Wage Employers already paid their employees at least a living wage, if not more.

TRB Architecture and Design Inc. and Roadhouse Interactive, an online gaming company, approached the Campaign after hearing about a living wage through Vancity, the largest living wage employer in Canada.

"(Vancity) actually employed somebody to make sure that all their service contracts are living wage compliant, and as part of that they're doing an education process with their clients, and part of that education process made these companies interested in becoming a living wage employer themselves," Flynn told The Tyee.

"A partner in the online gaming company actually worked at Vancity and brought it up at their management meeting and it led from there."

The Living Wage Campaign for Families is hoping to convince more than just businesses to support a living wage. In the lead up to the spring provincial election the Campaign is contacting political parties, proposing a living wage pilot program in either a government department or program.

"just study that pilot, wherever that would be, with a view to considering the benefits of extending that towards the rest of the provincial government," said McCarthy-Flynn.

Both the Green Party and the New Democratic Party have expressed interest in discussing how that pilot would work, he says.

"I think depending on how those negotiations go, we'll be issuing a public call for this probably in the next month or two, as well."

Katie Hyslop reports on education and youth issues for The Tyee Solutions Society. Follow her on Twitter.