Toys R' Us target of latest S-CAP protest

The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) is taking its fight for a minimum wage boost to Toys R' Us this weekend.

This group will be at the big box store starting at 11 a.m. Sept. 14.

S-CAP supports the advocates across Ontario who are calling for a $14 minimum wage. If minimum wage had kept up with inflation from the $1/hour it was first set at in Ontairo in 1965, then it would be $18.93/hour today, the group said.

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) lobby group is chaired by Kevin Mcnab, president and representative of Toys R’ Us Canada Ltd., a corporation that made $239 million in profit in the fourth quarter last year, a press release from S-CAP said.

Yet the RCC fought for a minimum wage freeze during the last provincial election and is now calling for a lower minimum wage for inexperienced workers.

The council's website claims that the province's new Minimum Wage Advisory Panel is a result of their lobbying and they have a representative on it.

"Over half of minimum wage workers in Ontario are hired by companies with more than 100 employees,” said S-CAP member Christy Knockleby in a press release.

“These are corporations that are making healthy profit margins and that put money into lobbying to make sure the minimum wage stays low.”

The income for a full-time minimum wage worker is nearly 20 per cent below the poverty line.

With one in seven kids in Ontario living in poverty, now is the time for action, not more panels and consultations, the press release said.

S-CAP is calling on Toys R' Us Canada Ltd to show that they care about the community they serve by supporting a minimum wage that would help lift people out of poverty.