Tim Hortons heirs cut paid breaks and worker benefits after minimum wage hike

[lockedout]

Employees at an Ontario Tim Hortons owned by the children of the chain's founders say they have been told to sign a document acknowledging they are losing paid breaks, paid benefits, and other incentives as a result of the province's minimum wage hike.

"I feel that we are getting the raw end of the stick," said one front line employee who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their job.

Tim Hortons owner announces lower profits, higher prices
The franchise is located in Cobourg, Ont., about 115 kilometres east of Toronto. The owners are Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri-Lynn Horton-Joyce, the son and daughter of the chain's co-founders, Ron Joyce and the late Tim Horton, respectively. Employees say they are married.

In the document, copies of which were obtained by CBC News, Ron Joyce Jr. Enterprises wrote:



Another employee said that with unpaid breaks and having to pay 50 per cent of the cost of benefits, their biweekly paycheque will actually be $51 dollars lower than it was before the minimum wage hike.

"I've worked for the company for a very long time, and I was very upset. I wasn't marching down the street asking for this pay raise. Now I'm worse off," they said.

James Pickersgill, a Cobourg resident whose friend's spouse works at one of the Cobourg locations, posted a picture of the document on his Facebook page. It was shared more than 600 times in less than 24 hours.

"Cobourg's a small place. Word of mouth goes mental. People are talking about it wildly," said Pickersgill.

He said some people are pointing to this situation as a reason why the minimum wage should not have gone up, because it forces small businesses into difficult decisions. But a far greater number of people are outraged, he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business...bour-1.4470215

Minimum wage hikes could cost Canada's economy 60,000 jobs by 2019:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business...wage-1.4469912

[Jonnusthegreat]

There's a lot of things wrong with the economy. Low minimum wage is one of them. Raising it won't fix every problem, but it's a good start. Also, I do feel for small businesses like Tim Horton's.

[Halicia]

"Because the government is now forcing us to pay a dollar more to new hires, we're now cutting benefits by an average of $5 to everyone."

Corporations want to pay as little as possible to their employees, this only allows them to pass the blame to something they're against in the first place.

If even one person believes this rationalization, its made their job easier.

[nanook12]

I think the increase in the minimum wage is still a net boon. Canada has free health insurance anyways. The incentives to paid breaks, working on your birthday, working on days off, and covering shifts are small potatoes.

Companies and heirs are greedy, imagine that.

[Video Games]

I remember tennis praising tim hortons

[Kithelle]

There's a lot of things wrong with the economy. Low minimum wage is one of them. Raising it won't fix every problem, but it's a good start. Also, I do feel for small businesses like Tim Horton's.

Raising it seems to only cause problems...

[Spiffums]

Imagine people trying to make money........ohh the shame!

[Heladys]

Tim Hortons != "small business"

Yes the franchisees are not the same as the corporation, but it's still well known as a notorious license to print money which is why the running joke of finding Tim Hortons on opposing street corners actually holds true. Fuck those shitasses, not one Timmies has ever closed for lack of profit.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Raising it seems to only cause problems...

Perhaps in the short term. It causes significant market disruption because previously disenfranchised members of the economy can no participate with newfound wealth, so low- to mid-tier luxury markets flourish. Fast food is not one of those markets.

There is a serious problem when companies boast a 2 billion net revenue when its employees are on food stamps. That is a government subsidy in essence, and that's a problem.

[Stop Pretending]

Canada needs to take a stand against and lead the world against companies that take advantage of their employees.

Am I doing it right?

[Moshots]

There's a lot of things wrong with the economy. Low minimum wage is one of them. Raising it won't fix every problem, but it's a good start. Also, I do feel for small businesses like Tim Horton's.

You don't realize that Most of these "franchises are not big business.... They are FRANCHISEES that individually own 1-2 stores....

I work for Dominos our owner is a nice guy and gives us good hours but if they raised our wage by 30% then 30% of us would have to be cut because he isn't exactly making a million dollars as he works at the store 60+ hours a week to keep it running on margins that leave him barely pulling down $15-20 dollars an hour when you figure that he works 60+ a week....

[lockedout]

You don't realize that Most of these "franchises are not big business.... They are FRANCHISEES that individually own 1-2 stores....

I work for Dominos our owner is a nice guy and gives us good hours but if they raised our wage by 30% then 30% of us would have to be cut because he isn't exactly making a million dollars as he works at the store 60+ hours a week to keep it running on margins that leave him barely pulling down $15-20 dollars an hour when you figure that he works 60+ a week....

While that's true this particular one is owned by the heirs. The owners are Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri-Lynn Horton-Joyce, the son and daughter of the chain's co-founders, Ron Joyce and the late Tim Horton, respectively.

[Jonnusthegreat]

You don't realize that Most of these "franchises are not big business.... They are FRANCHISEES that individually own 1-2 stores....

I work for Dominos our owner is a nice guy and gives us good hours but if they raised our wage by 30% then 30% of us would have to be cut because he isn't exactly making a million dollars as he works at the store 60+ hours a week to keep it running on margins that leave him barely pulling down $15-20 dollars an hour when you figure that he works 60+ a week....

You do realize that whether or not your boss does shit Dominoes still gets a significant portion of the profits for doing nothing except having the name and distributors? That's the problem.

[Shelly]

The wage hike is being used as a scape-goat for companies to cut benefits.

Which isn't to say that the minimum wage hike shouldn't be better targeted but too many businesses rely on government assistance being given to their employees to keep their wages low.

[Moshots]

While that's true this particular one is owned by the heirs. The owners are Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri-Lynn Horton-Joyce, the son and daughter of the chain's co-founders, Ron Joyce and the late Tim Horton, respectively.

Yeah I know i'm just saying though this is what people don't realize.....

Big Business already tries to keep you as minimally staffed as possible for max profits... I worked for Meijers and they kept our hours where we needed 3 people on at all time to do our job effectively we had an average of 2.5 people..

Meanwhile small business is usually better about these things... For example at my Dominoes we have sometimes 8-10 of us running the inside..... 3-4 of us up front/on breads/other front stuff dealing with customers customers and 4-6 in the back running line/ovens....

Now we could function at about 6-7 people.... but he makes sure we get our hours even if we could function (albeit a bit more rockily with less.)

If these minimum wage hikes keep happening in large groups These small businesses are gonna have to do what big business do just to stay alive...

[Kithelle]

Perhaps in the short term. It causes significant market disruption because previously disenfranchised members of the economy can no participate with newfound wealth, so low- to mid-tier luxury markets flourish. Fast food is not one of those markets.

There is a serious problem when companies boast a 2 billion net revenue when its employees are on food stamps. That is a government subsidy in essence, and that's a problem.

Raising the minimum wage just makes these companies charge more all while lowering how much their employees make. Isn't the first time this has been seen and it wont be the last...

[Cebel]

I think the increase in the minimum wage is still a net boon. Canada has free health insurance anyways. The incentives to paid breaks, working on your birthday, working on days off, and covering shifts are small potatoes.

Companies and heirs are greedy, imagine that.

Yeah, nothing is free in this world dude. What are you on.

[kail]

Yeah, nothing is free in this world dude. What are you on.

Publicly funded.

Raising the minimum wage just makes these companies charge more all while lowering how much their employees make. Isn't the first time this has been seen and it wont be the last...

Is that a general statement? Because minimum wage raises happen all the time without the need for businesses to take it out of their existing employees or consumers.

EDIT: Or possibly their income tax is works differently. A Canadian resident in this forum might shed some light on this.
What I am curious on is what the average employee there pays for their health benefits. By my math, those costs are really high or those who are losing out on $51 after the change are getting shit hours to begin with.

[Sunseeker]

This just in: some corporations are dicks.

I mean look at the fuss Papa John threw over healthcare. He'd have to raise the prices of his pizza by a quarter in order to give every employee completely paid-for healthcare.

Companies are simply more interested in screwing the little guy than doing the right thing. The only reasonable solution is for the State to screw them harder until they change their ways, since they're clearly not interested in doing it themselves.

[Realitytrembles]

Solution: When a minimum wage hike is passed, it should also include language forbidding the cutting of hours or benefits for those benefitting from the wage hike.