Tim Hortons customers at The Kingsway location off of Levesque Street got a side order of information with their double doubles Friday.
The Sudbury & District Labour Council, the Ontario Federation of Labour and the $15 and Fairness group were in the parking lot handing out information pamphlets in support of Tim Hortons workers across the province.
Wyman MacKinnon, vice-president of the labour council, said the Sudbury event was one part of a major action taking place across the country over how the Tim Hortons organization has reacted to the minimum wage increase.
“We're making it very clear that this is not a boycott against Tim Hortons,” MacKinnon said. “In fact, we want to see more people in the stores, because it shows the workers that they are being valued. We want to get the message out there that this is how some franchisees are choosing to behave, and it's very unethical in our view. There's no way these workers should, in any way, be penalized because of something that is out of their control.”
There have been several news reports about actions taken by some Tim Hortons franchisees across Ontario, where they have been caught taking out the new changes on workers, MacKinnon said. For instance, Ron Joyce Jr., the son of the former owner of Tim Hortons sent a letter to his employees eliminating workers’ paid breaks, reducing access to basic drug and dental benefits, eliminating uniform and drink allowances, and even cutting employees’ hours of work.
“We can't for the life of us figure out why these companies are doing this when the workers have nothing to do with it,” he said.
MacKinnon said he's not aware of any such changes that have happened in Greater Sudbury.
No one from Tim Hortons was available to talk with Sudbury.com.
