Council to vote on raise to $20.70 by end of May
The California Fast Food Council approved a motion to consider raising the minimum wage for fast food workers by another 70 cents per hour on Wednesday, with a vote on the matter expected at their next meeting in either April or May.
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The fast food wage in California shot up dramatically in April 2024 following the passing and signing of AB 1228 in late 2023. Tied to the state minimum wage of $16 an hour, the new minimum wage was set to $20 an hour.
The entire fast food industry began to struggle as a result. Some, like Chipotle and McDonalds, raised prices. Others invested in automated kiosks and other automated devices to help reduce the number of employees. Some stores outright closed, including most Rubio’s Coastal Grill locations in California. Worst yet, layoffs swiftly went into the thousands.
But things grew worse. In June, a Hoover Institute at Stanford University study cited by the California Business and Industrial Alliance found that thousands of fast food jobs were lost as a result of AB 1228, something which the Newsom administration publicly and vehemently deny for months. By July, a new survey found that 74% of California fast-food restaurant owners said that “there is an increase in the likelihood of shutting their restaurants down.”
Amid all of this, labor unions were actually calling for a raise to $20.70 per hour for fast food employees in August.
Governor Newsom and other state officials finally began to accept that the raise caused massive job losses following independent, federal reports by the the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the state lost 5,416 fast food jobs since January 2024 and over 6,000 since September 2023 – more than 10,000 jobs lost. While Newsom and others in his administration tried to spin the numbers before the statistics were released, they failed. This was only heightened in November when it was found out that UC Berkeley downplayed the negative effects of the AB 1228 law earlier in the year.
Voters also rejected Prop 32 in November, which would have raised the state minimum wage to $18 an hour, largely because of the high number of job losses caused by AB 1228. And just this week, the SEIU themselves admitted that over 10,000 fast food jobs in California were lost in the past year because of the law.
Quality of food and portion sizes is fast shrinking ….
The number of people who are working is being replaced by mechanization.
The issue of fewer workers means there is going to be more demand for GOVERNMENT WELFARE CHECKS.
Getting it yet? Sure let’s add another $ 70 cents per employee so we can pay more taxes.
Stupid is as Stupid does.
And you vote for Democrats?
Union bullying is a form of setting price controls that typically result in less of a product and a lower quality product. Fast food workers were emboldened by their prior success to get $20/hr and will not stop because those companies are just replacing workers with upgraded robotics that are fully capable of taking and filling orders and don’t have sick days or vacation. Unions just don’t get it, and they never will.
Yet more proof that Democrats are insane or evil. Heck I vote for both!