Politics in 2018

[McG]

... RBI isn't allowing [franchisees] to raise prices meaning that all the new labour costs have to either come out of the franchisee's profit margin or be on the backs of the employees one way or another.

Those are not mutually exclusive options. It is possible that store owners and employees both take a hits to increase the wages.

 

[dapaterson]

To my mind, there's a strong undercurrent of pettiness.  The incremental cost of a cup of coffee is negligible, yet the owners are now stating "you can't take a cup as you leave (in your own cup) any more".  While other measures may include genuine attempts to save money (making all breaks unpaid, charging for uniforms etc), taking away a departure double-double seems just a petty way for owners to lord over employees.

 

[Good2Golf]

To my mind, there's a strong undercurrent of pettiness.  The incremental cost of a cup of coffee is negligible, yet the owners are now stating "you can't take a cup as you leave (in your own cup) any more".  While other measures may include genuine attempts to save money (making all breaks unpaid, charging for uniforms etc), taking away a departure double-double seems just a petty way for owners to lord over employees.

Possibly, or perhaps there was in fact a cost analysis conducted (at the franchise level?) that resulted in a previously acceptable (within total revenue/expenses framework) 'perk' to employees now being less acceptable because the Ontario Minimum Wage now eats a much greater share of revenue than it did previously.  As well, would not the Federal Government's recent take on taxable benefits also mean that the employees would have to claim as income (or be deducted at source by the employer) the value of the coffee provided to an employee at the end of a shift?  You know, helping the middle class live a better quality of life than they did under the previous Fed/Ont Govt mix?

???

Regards
G2G

 

[Jed]

To my mind, there's a strong undercurrent of pettiness.  The incremental cost of a cup of coffee is negligible, yet the owners are now stating "you can't take a cup as you leave (in your own cup) any more".  While other measures may include genuine attempts to save money (making all breaks unpaid, charging for uniforms etc), taking away a departure double-double seems just a petty way for owners to lord over employees.

So pettiness only works one way?  The government / unions are not being petty?

 

[Kirkhill]

Funny - Did Tim's labour costs go up in New Brunswick or Alberta?  Tim's is running a national organization.  Its customers expect the experience, including prices, to be broadly similar - if not the same - all across Canada.

 

[ModlrMike]

Funny - Did Tim's labour costs go up in New Brunswick or Alberta?  Tim's is running a national organization.  Its customers expect the experience, including prices, to be broadly similar - if not the same - all across Canada.

Only the corporate part of Tims is a national venture. The franchises are independently owned and operated (only 29 outlets were owned by the corporation as of 31 Dec 16). The corporation governs the sales prices, so the 20% still has to come out of the owners' hides.

 

[YZT580]

Petty, not really.. Using round numbers, price on a large double double is 2.00.  Profit would be approximately forty cents.  Forty cents is equivalent to a nickle an hour for an 8 hour shift.  It is a small re-capture but not insignificant.  Paid breaks means that the employer has to cover all the costs of staffing one extra body in order to ensure breaks.  For two breaks that is another dollar an hour cost to the employer that he has been paying to this point.  Since he can't raise prices and he can't afford to run a charitable programme, where else is he going to cover a 20% increase?  Wynn needs to take a basic management course!

 

[Altair]

Funny - Did Tim's labour costs go up in New Brunswick or Alberta?  Tim's is running a national organization.  Its customers expect the experience, including prices, to be broadly similar - if not the same - all across Canada.

Yeah, funny that.

Alberta and NB both raised the minimum wage and you didn't hear these stories.

Ontario does it in a election year and suddenly it's an issue.

 

[ballz]

Yeah, funny that.

Alberta and NB both raised the minimum wage and you didn't hear these stories.

Ontario does it in a election year and suddenly it's an issue.

There was and still is plenty of opposition to it in Alberta (I live here now). I also lived and worked in Alberta when it had close to the lowest minimum wage in the country ($7 at the time, ~2005-07) and yet Burger King was paying $15/hr for a part-time 16 year old to flip burgers. Everyone from places with shitty economies like Nfld would ask me "what's minimum wage" because they thought minimum wage was standard of living indicator, and I'd tell them, "I don't know, it's never been mentioned." Imagine that, an actual strong economy was the best cure for low wages....

New Brunswickers are barely capable of governing themselves (I lived there from May 2012 - Aug 2017), you only know the provincial government is doing something good there if the voting public is complaining about it. I am from Newfoundland which I would say the same thing about.

Minimum wage has to be one of the most frustratingly stupid issues. Long-term, it literally does nothing good or bad for anyone.... except inflation, which is good for the government and bad for anyone with positive net worth.

 

[Remius]

Yeah, funny that.

Alberta and NB both raised the minimum wage and you didn't hear these stories.

Ontario does it in a election year and suddenly it's an issue.

It’s also the size of the increase and the short time frame.  Add to that new employment rules, crippling hydro rates and taxes and you have a recipe for putting small to medium businesses out of business.

 

[dimsum]

Yeah, funny that.

Alberta and NB both raised the minimum wage and you didn't hear these stories.

Ontario does it in a election year and suddenly it's an issue.

Let's be serious - if ON does pretty much anything, no matter how small, the national news will make it an issue.  It has almost 40% of the country's population, and most of it centred around the GTA.

 

[mariomike]

It has almost 40% of the country's population, and most of it centred around the GTA.

"Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — are now home to more than one-third of all Canadians with a combined population of 12.5 million, with almost one half living in Toronto and its suburban neighbours."
http://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/2017/02/08/census-2016-canada-s-big-cities-home-to-big-share-of-35-million-canadians.html

 

[observor 69]

Some more info on the context of this story:

"Even before the latest minimum-wage meltdown, Tim Hortons was a brand in crisis"

https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2018/01/06/even-before-the-latest-minimum-wage-meltdown-tim-hortons-was-a-brand-in-crisis.html

 

[Kirkhill]

"Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — are now home to more than one-third of all Canadians with a combined population of 12.5 million, with almost one half living in Toronto and its suburban neighbours."
http://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/2017/02/08/census-2016-canada-s-big-cities-home-to-big-share-of-35-million-canadians.html

Indeed.  Time for Toronto to have its own seat at the United Nations where its brilliance can be truly appreciated.

 

[mariomike]

Indeed.  Time for Toronto to have its own seat at the United Nations where its brilliance can be truly appreciated.

No. But, in my opinion, time for an urban secession to split the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) from the province of Ontario into a new Canadian province.

 

[FJAG]

No. But, in my opinion, time for an urban secession to split the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) from the province of Ontario into a new Canadian province.

I only want a split if they take the Ontario debt with them.  ;D

:cheers:

 

[Jarnhamar]

Kathleen 'Ontario Hydro' Wynne calling Tim Hortons bullies, that's rich.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Indeed.  Time for Toronto to have its own seat at the United Nations where its brilliance can be truly appreciated.

:rofl:

 

[dapaterson]

Indeed.  Time for Toronto to have its own seat at the United Nations where its brilliance can be truly appreciated.

Alphabetically, somewhere between North Korea and Zimbabwe.

 

[mariomike]

Secession of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) from the province of Ontario would be good enough for me. 

#GTAexit