TORONTO, Ontario—More than 50 demonstrations took place from Vancouver to Halifax Jan. 19, urging
Tim Hortons’ franchisees to rescind cutbacks they made after Ontario raised its minimum wage Jan. 1. A number of franchisees of the Canada’s most popular coffee chain had responded to the increase, from C$11.60 to C$14 (about US$11.30) by eliminating paid breaks and tip jars and charging workers more for benefits. “They have a near-religious brand in Canada,” Brittany Smith of Lead Now, which organized the protests with the Fight-for-$15 movement and the Ontario Federation of Labour, told the Toronto Star. “I think these punitive attacks on workers fly in the face of the values that it purports to have.” Toronto-based doctor Dr. Ritika Goel, one of about 30 health-care workers protesting outside a Toronto Tim Hortons, said “it’s very clear” that workers’ health and metal well-being is improved by having paid sick days, benefits, and paid breaks. “This is not just a flash-in-the-pan action,” said Deena Ladd of the Worker’s Action Centre. “This actually a deeper issue of people really supporting the minimum wage and supporting better rights and working conditions.” Read more
