Local labour community rallies for Tim’s workers
Restaurant chain employees need ‘a voice,’ union members say
As stories surface about Tim Hortons workers losing paid breaks, facing tip rollbacks and having to pay for uniforms, the head of the Windsor and District Labour Council is pushing to give them a voice.
“When you have a union, you have a voice,” Brian Hogan, president of the local labour council, said at the National Day of Action protest Friday outside the Tim Hortons at the corner of Bruce and University avenues. “If there was a union steward in here (Tim Hortons) when they hear an issue, they would call it in and it would get resolved — 99 per cent of the time amicably. But instead you are hearing workers saying, ‘I can’t tell you things. I might get fired.’
“In 2018, people are worried about getting fired. That just proves the need for unions.”
Some Tim Hortons franchises are among many companies trying to cope with the minimum wage increase from $11.60 to $14 hourly that came into effect Jan. 1. But Hogan points out that businesses all knew the wage increase was coming and slashing some of the employees perks is the wrong way to handle it. In fact, he said Tim Hortons raised the price of its menu items last year in anticipation of the wage hike.
“Some of the franchise owners are not playing to the spirit of the law,” Hogan said.
“We are hearing stories of people losing their paid breaks. At some Tim Hortons people are having to buy their own uniforms. If you are a new hire, before you’ve even started working you are already down $100 for the uniform. We are hearing some workers’ net income has actually gone down. That certainly wasn’t the spirit of this.”
Close to 20 representatives from various labour councils gathered outside Tim Hortons at Bruce and University Friday in support of the National Day of Action.
“I’m just here to support the workers,” said Elizabeth Ha, vicepresident of the Ontario Federation of Labour (Workers of Colour). “To make sure they know that the labour movement and the community is here to support them and to make sure they are treated with respect and fairly. We are not going to allow their employer to take advantage of them.”
Ha said workers need a voice, especially since some Tim Hortons franchise owners have been showing they don’t respect their employees by taking some perks away from them in response to the minimum-wage increase.
“I think right now more than ever workers are seeing they have the power and the voice,” Ha said.
In 2018, people are worried about getting fired. That just proves the need for unions.