Market will sort out wage ‘brew’-haha
People usually act in their self-inter- est, and are fully entitled to do so. As a result, it should surprise no one that the business sector — in particular small business — is moving to protect its interests as a result of Ontario’s minimum-wage hike.
The results haven’t been pretty. Yet the premier responsible for the wage changes seems astonished that her policies have actual consequences. And so, facing a spring election, Kathleen Wynne picked a rhetorical fight with two Tim Hortons franchisees, evoking class warfare and blaring about “bullying.” There are less crassly political ways to deal with the situation.
Some background: As of Jan. 2, the minimum hourly payment to workers in Ontario rose from $11.60 to $14. In January 2019, it will rise again, to $15. While most Ontarians want to see low-paid workers do better, that’s a sharp increase in a short period.
The immediate results have included: some businesses absorbing the higher wages; others raising prices; still others laying off staff or cutting the number of hours for which they pay workers; and in the gloomiest cases, businesses deciding to shut altogether. Painful adjustments were to be expected.
In one high-profile example this week, the children of the founders of Tim Hortons (the company is now owned by Restaurant Brands International) told workers in two Cobourg franchise locations that they would no longer be paid for breaks, and their benefits would be cut too. That’s not good for those workers, but it is legal.
Wynne quickly rushed to the rhetorical rescue, painting franchise bosses Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri Horton-Joyce as drooling capitalists. “When I read the reports about Ron Joyce, Jr., who is a man whose family founded Tim Hortons, the chain was sold for billions of dollars, and when I read how he was treating his employees, it just felt to me like this was a pretty clear act of bullying,” the premier riffed.
Many Ontarians will agree with her. It may be that the Tim Hortons outlets in question are behaving badly. Parent company RBI seems to think so, lashing out at the “actions of a reckless few.” Other coffee spots have handled the mandatory wage hike differently, by opting to raise prices, or employing fewer staff.
If consumers think any of these actions are unjust, they can send a message by simply buying their java elsewhere. That would be much more effective than the premier’s brew of over-caffeinated bombast. In the end, only the market — which means buyers as well as businesses — can sort out her mess.