WHITBY, Ont. — A staff memo written by Whitby, Ont.-based Tim Hortons franchisees recently began circulating on social media, reports CBC News. The letter, dated from November, encourages employees to contact Premier Kathleen Wynne directly regarding concerns about changes to employee benefits.
The memo informs employees that “to stay in business, we must make changes to how we operate our locations.” The letter goes on to encourage employees to inform the Premier that they will not be supporting her in the upcoming provincial election.
Susan and Jason Holman, whose names appear at the bottom of the memo, own three Tim Hortons locations, including two in Whitby and one in Ajax, Ont.
On Jan. 19, protests in response to individual franchise owners cutting employee benefits to offset Ontario’s minimum-wage hike spread beyond Ontario to include cities such as Calgary, Halifax, Saskatoon, Regina and Vancouver. The intent of these protests is to pressure Tim Hortons’ parent company, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), into taking action.