Months After $20 Minimum Wage Law, California Fast Food Workers Want Another Increase

Months after the state of California passed a law mandating that restaurants pay their employees a minimum wage of $20 an hour, the state’s fast food workers are angling for another increase.

In a proposal that would likely see increased pressure on the Golden State’s struggling restaurants, the California Fast Food Workers Union want an hourly rate increase of $0.70 to come into effect in January.

“As California’s fast-food industry grows, cooks and cashiers are doubling down on their fight across the state to win safe and healthy stores, stable hours, pay that keeps up with inflation and training to understand their rights on the job,” the union said in a memo released on Thursday, according to the California Globe. 

“The industry has added jobs and multiple franchisees have also noted that the higher wage is already attracting better job candidates, thus reducing turnover.”

While minimum wage increases do help fast food workers deal with California’s incredibly high cost of living, they also inevitably pass on the cost to the consumer.

Many restaurants have been forced to close their doors or lay off employees after the wage requirements ensured their operations were no longer economically viable.

“It’s obvious that the fast food union and the SEIU don’t know much about how fast food restaurants actually operate,” Raul, a fast food restaurant owner in Long Beach, told the Globe.

“I mean the $20 minimum wage. That should stay in place, static at the same price, for years while everyone else catches up. We’d all prefer it go down, but if it is staying, then we don’t have any more raises on top of that for years. We all hate it because it is putting our businesses in jeopardy.”

According to a recent analysis from Kalinowski Equity Research, fast-food restaurants across California have hiked prices by around eight percent since the law went into effect in April.

Meanwhile, a survey undertaken in May similarly found that 80 percent of Americans now consider fast food a “luxury item,” undelrining the massive financial impact that Bidenflation has had on ordinary families.

 

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