Starting Monday, most California fast-food workers will earn at least $20 an hour — the highest minimum wage across the U.S. restaurant industry. Yet the pay hike is sparking furious debate, with some restaurant owners warning of job losses and higher prices for customers, while labor advocates tout the benefits of higher wages.
The new law, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last fall, takes effect on April 1, requiring that fast-food chains with at least 60 locations nationwide pay workers at least $20 an hour. The means the state’s 553,000 fast-food workers will earn more than the state’s $16 minimum wage for all other industries.
The new baseline wage comes as the fast-food industry is seeing booming earnings, with big chains like McDonald’s enjoying strong revenue growth and wider profit margins in recent years. That’s partly due to menu prices that have far outpaced inflation, with fast-food costs surging 47% over the past decade, compared with an average of 29% for all other prices, according to a new analysis from the Roosevelt Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
I remember reading an article about strawberry pickers out here in California about 25 years ago. The math in the article said they could triple the pay of the pickers, and it would add a similar amount (around $0.20) per carton at retail. But we can’t do that for some fucking reason.
Just think… if all the produce we bought was 20 cents more at retail, we’d have to spend… well I don’t know exactly, but at least an additional $3. Can anyone afford that?!
Imagine not having to use illegal immigrants as an option yet you guys would rather pay $.20 less.
By “you guys” you mean the executives at Dole and Delmonte that would rather pocket the $0.20 per pint themselves than pay a fair wage, right?
That math is just a little lie that makes up a part of the Big Lie. The truth is that increasing workers’ wages does not tend to lead to price inflation in most markets. It simply reduces profits and C-level bonuses.
Funny how nobody ever talks about the labor cost of CEO pay driving up prices 🤔
My assumption is that it’s only $0.20 because the assumption is that the C-suite of whoever is selling the strawberries is expected to lower their profit margins.
And we know that’s never going to happen.