@theomoudakis
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has tweeted this editorial cartoon given the news of layoffs at Tim Hortons.
CBC reports, “Tim Hortons started doling out pink slips at its headquarters and regional offices across the country on Monday and Tuesday… The company has remained tight-lipped about the layoffs, refusing to make public how many jobs were cut. Until the axe fell, more than 2,000 people worked at Tim Hortons corporate offices and distribution centres in Canada. [A laid-off Tim Hortons manager] estimates 40 per cent of staff may have been laid off from head office in Oakville, Ont.”
That news report adds, “Late yesterday an official in the office of Industry Minister James Moore told CBC News that Burger King had committed to cutting no more than 20 per cent of Tim Hortons corporate staff at its headquarters or regional offices. The official said that commitment was legally binding.”
In August 2014, Oakville, Ontario-based Tim Hortons agreed to a multi-billion merger with Miami-based Burger King. The New York-based Brazilian private equity group 3G Capital now owns 51-per-cent of the new company. At that time, Toronto Star columnist Tim Harper wrote, “It may not be as warm and fuzzy as a frigid ice rink on a winter’s dawn, but the $12.5-billion takeover of Tim Hortons by Brazilian-owned Burger King is now a powerful symbol of Harper’s cuts to corporate taxes and his move to make Canada more business-friendly.”
Even back then the Wall Street Journal had reported, “Burger King said they expect no changes to ‘restaurant-level employment’… Still, after buying both Burger King and Heinz, 3G aggressively cut jobs. That does not bode well for Tim Hortons’ employees.”
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Further reading
Harper welcomes Brazilian purchase of Tim Hortons (August 2014 blog)
