Canada decided to increase their Minimum Wage by $2.40 per hour. In response, the Tim Horton's locations owned by the family of one of the co-founders has decided they will cut and/or require employees to pay for benefits previously offered to accommodate the increased costs. Minimum Wage laws tend to be a way for politicians to buy votes with someone else’s money - literally. Leftists think this is a great idea; politicians looking for votes can jump on-board and pass a law that is easy to support because it does not cost them anything. It is also an easy issue to demagogue your opponents over. After all, only Scrooge McDuck could possibly be so heartless as to deny someone a raise. Especially if all we are trying to do is give a “Living Wage” to someone. If we as a society decide that a "Livable Wage" is worth having, we should vote for it rather than impose it the obligation on someone else. I am especially struck by the stupidity of the twitter commenter at the story. He notes,
“Tim Hortons made more than $100 million in profit last year, but I guess it's just too darned strapped for cash to give its minimum wage employees paid breaks and basic benefits that Tim Hortons made 100m in profit last year and therefore should be able to easily afford the raise.”
He is either ignorant of the fact that these stores are individually owned and thus make wage decisions and pay for these increases themselves or he is being disingenuous. He also says they, “…should be able to easily afford the raise." There is always someone who thinks they can decide what someone else or some other entity can afford to pay. Who cares about the shareholders - the actual owners- of a business, eh?
I also note the comments where someone makes the usual point that "Please explain how they are being overpaid?? Do you know the cost of living in Canada? Do you know how much basic necessitates cost in Canada? I didn't think so." What does the cost of living have to do with the value an employee brings to the job and what compensation that value is worth? And do you not see the correlation between higher wages and higher costs for necessities? If you think people should receive higher wages to cover the inflated cost of living in your area, pay it yourself. Do not ask a business owner to foot the bill for your pet cause; you cannot purchase compassion with other people's money.
Milton Friedman said that the Effective Minimum Wage is always zero. Once workers lose hours, benefits, and eventually jobs, perhaps people like our commenters will see that he was indeed correct.