Same thing Happened at the IWK in Halifax. Paid off the Franchise fee in record time and the folks working there were happy. My Sister was one of the managers until the do good bunch felt that a successful business on Hospital grounds needed that Union touch. Timmies is now gone from the IWK.Was looking for a thread to drop this into and this one will do - it's close enough.
Scanning the National Post today and came across this article.
It caught my attention because some forty or so years ago, my wife was on a small volunteer committee that ran the thrift shop at the Brandon General Hospital. The thrift shops mandate is to sell suitable new merchandise that people can buy as gifts. (It's not a used clothing type of place - this is everything from candles to large ornaments etc) The profits go into the hospital to buy new equipment such as MRIs.
Anyway they thought about a new way to make money and finally settled on opening a Tim Horton's in the hospital, which they did and which has been raking in the cash ever since making huge profits and was, at least back then, one of the most profitable franchises going. So naturally I said to myself. "How can you lose money on a Timmy's?" The answer in one word is unions. The hourly rate paid at the hospital's Timmy's staff is nearly twice the minimum wage. The balance sheets are in the article.
The issue starkly showcases the trouble with public sector unions for whom the balance sheet for operations are entirely meaningless. If there are losses you just go to the public and claw some additional cash out of it in taxes. There are clearly some public service organizations that have no income generated to base a profit/loss analysis on, but for something like a cafeteria (and at the end of the day that's what a Timmy's is) which sells a service/product to the public, profit should matter. Where I live now is a moderate-sized regional hospital which has a small coffee shop where most of the food comes out of a Japanese style vending machine albeit there is counter staff as well. Like in Brandon, it's run by a hospital volunteer auxiliary which is currently on a campaign to raise a million dollars for new equipment.
It boggles my mind that hospital administrators, like those in Windsor, would run an operation that loses a half million annually.
Public service employment has grown by 31 per cent
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OldSolduer
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And we all wonder why Amazon pulled out of Quebec.
Halifax Tar
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Good piece on the approach PP will have to take with the PS.
MacDougall: Poilievre's cuts to the public service won't be easy to make
Part of the reason the public service got so big under Justin Trudeau is because it took its cues from the man at the top.ottawacitizen.com
The way you manage "marbled fat" is not with the knife but the kettle. You sweat it out. Or render it.
Transfer people to positions their services are required. Make them show up for work every day. Rerole. Assign new duties. Encourage early retirement. Don't replace people who quit or retire.
I understand that Poilievre has said he is not against remote work. I wonder if that is because remote work would be compatible with decentralization.
If you can get the job done while working from home in Orleans why can't it be done from Red Deer?
Yeah all great ideas. I have yet to see his “how”. Last time he and his buddies messed it up nicely.
daftandbarmy
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The UK having their own issues although I assume the growth was largely due to the policies of the previous Tory government ...
Bloated public sector is damaging economy, warns Andrew Bailey
Bank of England halves GDP forecast in blow to the Chancellor’s growth agenda
Andrew Bailey has warned that Britain’s bloated public sector is dragging down the economy after the Bank of England slashed its 2025 growth forecasts in half.
The Governor of the Bank of England said an increase of half a million workers in the public sector since lockdown had not been matched by a rise in productivity.
It comes after civil servants last week threatened to strike over demands that they return to the office for two days a week.
Speaking after the Bank slashed growth forecasts for 2025 from 1.5pc to 0.75pc, Mr Bailey said: “It is fair to say we have seen an increase in public sector employment. We haven’t seen a commensurate increase in measured public sector output.”
Mr Bailey’s comments came as the Bank cut interest rates to 4.5pc from 4.75pc in a surprise split vote and warned that the economy would narrowly avoid a recession at the turn of the year.
The Bank blamed an “increasing share of employment accounted for by areas where the public sector is the predominant employer such as education, health and public administration” for holding back productivity growth in the past few years.
It added: “Employment in these areas has risen significantly since 2019, particularly in health-related activities, but these sectors have also seen significant declines in their measured productivity per hour. This means that the shift in the composition of total employment towards these areas will have weighed on total productivity.”
Mr Bailey also suggested that record net migration in recent years meant overall productivity growth was even weaker than previously thought.
“We have got more population, we have got more labour force, we have got the same output, so you can only conclude then that you have got lower productivity,” he said.
The intervention will be regarded as an embarrassment for Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, after she vowed to prioritise growth in a major speech last week.
The Government is expected to preside over a big expansion of the state in the coming years, with more workers on higher salaries funded by a record £40bn tax raid announced last October.
Threadneedle Street also warned that the Chancellor’s public spending splurge risked keeping interest rates higher for longer.
“Higher public sector spending can reduce the amount of capital available for private investment,” it said, which in turn would put “upward pressure” on the borrowing costs needed to ensure inflation remains stable.
Speaking on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer insisted he was “not satisfied with growth as it is” as he channelled US President Donald Trump by vowing to “build, baby, build” and slash planning red tape for nuclear plants.
“I’m not satisfied with growth as it is,” added the Prime Minister. “I’m determined we’re going to go further ... to turn our economy around.”
Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, warned that government policies were making working people poorer with fewer jobs, lower wages and higher prices.
“We are heading for ‘Starmflation’ thanks to Labour’s mismanagement,” he said.
Mr Bailey said policymakers would take a “gradual and careful approach to reducing rates further” as he signalled that the impact of higher taxes and Donald Trump’s trade war would affect how quickly the Bank could cut rates going forward.
Public service productivity remains 8.5pc below pre-lockdown levels amid a collapse in output during the pandemic.
Ms Reeves has pledged to boost public spending on the NHS and schools dramatically over the next two years.
Lord Bridges, a senior Conservative peer, warned that weak productivity growth risked blowing an even bigger hole in the public finances.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government’s tax and spending watchdog, has previously estimated that annual productivity growth that was half a per cent lower will increase borrowing by £40bn a year by the end of the decade.
Lord Bridges said: “Taxpayers are paying more and getting less. If we don’t improve productivity, we risk going deeper and deeper into debt.
“Reeves promised us stability but it is turning into the stability of the graveyard. We are facing a triple whammy of higher prices, higher unemployment and lower growth. We risk seeing a downturn made in Downing Street.”
The OBR believes public sector employment will continue to grow to 6.3m by the end of the decade, up from 5.8m in 2023-24.
Bloated public sector is damaging UK economy, warns Andrew Bailey
Bloated public sector is damaging economy, warns Andrew Bailey
Bank of England halves GDP forecast in blow to the Chancellor’s growth agenda
Andrew Bailey has warned that Britain’s bloated public sector is dragging down the economy after the Bank of England slashed its 2025 growth forecasts in half.
The Governor of the Bank of England said an increase of half a million workers in the public sector since lockdown had not been matched by a rise in productivity.
It comes after civil servants last week threatened to strike over demands that they return to the office for two days a week.
Speaking after the Bank slashed growth forecasts for 2025 from 1.5pc to 0.75pc, Mr Bailey said: “It is fair to say we have seen an increase in public sector employment. We haven’t seen a commensurate increase in measured public sector output.”
Mr Bailey’s comments came as the Bank cut interest rates to 4.5pc from 4.75pc in a surprise split vote and warned that the economy would narrowly avoid a recession at the turn of the year.
The Bank blamed an “increasing share of employment accounted for by areas where the public sector is the predominant employer such as education, health and public administration” for holding back productivity growth in the past few years.
It added: “Employment in these areas has risen significantly since 2019, particularly in health-related activities, but these sectors have also seen significant declines in their measured productivity per hour. This means that the shift in the composition of total employment towards these areas will have weighed on total productivity.”
Mr Bailey also suggested that record net migration in recent years meant overall productivity growth was even weaker than previously thought.
“We have got more population, we have got more labour force, we have got the same output, so you can only conclude then that you have got lower productivity,” he said.
The intervention will be regarded as an embarrassment for Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, after she vowed to prioritise growth in a major speech last week.
The Government is expected to preside over a big expansion of the state in the coming years, with more workers on higher salaries funded by a record £40bn tax raid announced last October.
Threadneedle Street also warned that the Chancellor’s public spending splurge risked keeping interest rates higher for longer.
“Higher public sector spending can reduce the amount of capital available for private investment,” it said, which in turn would put “upward pressure” on the borrowing costs needed to ensure inflation remains stable.
Speaking on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer insisted he was “not satisfied with growth as it is” as he channelled US President Donald Trump by vowing to “build, baby, build” and slash planning red tape for nuclear plants.
“I’m not satisfied with growth as it is,” added the Prime Minister. “I’m determined we’re going to go further ... to turn our economy around.”
Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, warned that government policies were making working people poorer with fewer jobs, lower wages and higher prices.
“We are heading for ‘Starmflation’ thanks to Labour’s mismanagement,” he said.
Mr Bailey said policymakers would take a “gradual and careful approach to reducing rates further” as he signalled that the impact of higher taxes and Donald Trump’s trade war would affect how quickly the Bank could cut rates going forward.
Public service productivity remains 8.5pc below pre-lockdown levels amid a collapse in output during the pandemic.
Ms Reeves has pledged to boost public spending on the NHS and schools dramatically over the next two years.
Lord Bridges, a senior Conservative peer, warned that weak productivity growth risked blowing an even bigger hole in the public finances.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government’s tax and spending watchdog, has previously estimated that annual productivity growth that was half a per cent lower will increase borrowing by £40bn a year by the end of the decade.
Lord Bridges said: “Taxpayers are paying more and getting less. If we don’t improve productivity, we risk going deeper and deeper into debt.
“Reeves promised us stability but it is turning into the stability of the graveyard. We are facing a triple whammy of higher prices, higher unemployment and lower growth. We risk seeing a downturn made in Downing Street.”
The OBR believes public sector employment will continue to grow to 6.3m by the end of the decade, up from 5.8m in 2023-24.
Bloated public sector is damaging UK economy, warns Andrew Bailey
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