Posts tagged Fast Food
Gavin Newsom Wants to Curb a Labor Law That Cost Businesses $10 Billion
June 12, 2024 // Newsom’s office has brought together the state’s powerful California Chamber of Commerce with the California Labor Federation to hash out a compromise over the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, people familiar with the negotiations said. The law has cost big and small businesses $10 billion over the past ten years, according to one study, and is viewed by labor advocates as a model of worker protection.The negotiators are in a race against time: June 27 is the deadline to strike a measure from Californians’ November ballot that would give voters the opportunity to repeal the law. The Chamber of Commerce is negotiating on behalf of a broad alliance, which includes the billionaire owner of the Wonderful Company, Stewart Resnick, car dealership owners, Walmart and McDonald’s Corp., along with small businesses across the state. The business coalition committed more than $31 million to entities backing the ballot measure, including the signature-gathering effort and an advertising blitz.
The astonishing number of fast food jobs lost – and restaurants shut – because of California’s new $20-an-hour minimum wage
June 11, 2024 // When the Democrat governor signed the law in 2023, Newsom said the state was getting 'one step closer to fairer wages, safer and healthier working conditions, and better training by giving hardworking fast food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table.' But Republican critics claimed the wage hike would simply mean workers are replaced with self-checkouts and 'robot cooks.' Harsh Ghai, a Burger King franchisee with 140 restaurants on the West Coast announced in April how he planned to have digital kiosks installed in all his locations in two months.
San Diego labor unions calling on city to mandate $25 minimum wage for service workers
May 2, 2024 // The move to lift the hourly wages of those working in San Diego’s service industry is being led by a coalition of three unions — Unite Here; the janitors’ union, SEIU-USWW; and the stagehands’ union, IATSE 122 (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees).
Fast food chains find a way around $20 minimum wage: Get rid of the workers
April 26, 2024 // The layoffs present a stark reality for employees and their unions, who have long advocated for wage increments. Workers at well-known chains such as Pizza Hut and Round Table pizza restaurants have also felt the impact, with job losses reported following statements from management about the unsustainable nature of the new wage costs. Meanwhile, major fast food players including McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Starbucks have signaled intentions to offset the increased expenses by raising prices.
California restaurant owner fears $20 wage hike will put him out of business: ‘Increase prices or close’
April 17, 2024 // After hustling to keep his doors open throughout the pandemic, a Los Angles restaurant owner is speaking out against the state’s newly enacted $20 minimum wage law, fearing it could be the final straw that puts him and his employees out of business. Justin Foronda, the owner of HiFi Kitchen in Filipinotown ,a neighborhood in Los Angeles, has spent the last several years enacting new and creative ideas to keep his restaurant afloat, navigating an industry devastated by widespread closures during the pandemic. An LA Times column released on Saturday titled, "Small-business owners brace for uncertainty as the $20 hourly fast-food wage takes effect," details Foronda's plight as he and other restaurant owners say they're suffering at the hands of the state’s newly enacted $20 minimum wage.
Opinion: California’s Bad April Fools Joke: $20 Minimum Wage For Flipping Burgers
April 7, 2024 // Friedman reminded us that fast food jobs don’t require much training, and used to be a traditional training ground for the unskilled. But not any longer thanks to the minimum wage laws. And every increase in the minimum wage hurts the low paid and the unskilled the most. Any economist could have predicted, and Milton Friedman warned us so many years ago, fast food businesses are going to have to downsize their workforce, reduce employee hours, raise prices and automate more… all because Gavin Newsom and California’s Democrat lawmakers meddle in the private sector. As Friedman famously said, “The rise in the legal minimum-wage rate is a monument to the power of superficial thinking.”
SEIU, allies say $20 fast food wage should have minimal impact on employment
April 3, 2024 // “Our fight was never just about the raise, but having the power to improve our industry,” said Angelica Hernandez, a Los Angeles McDonald’s worker and member of the Fast Food Council created by AB 1228. Hernandez, speaking through an interpreter at a press event hosted by the Service Employees International Union and the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal American think tank, said employers are retaliating against supporters of AB 1228.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill To Carve Out Exemptions For New Minimum Wage Law Following ‘PaneraGate’ Scandal
March 27, 2024 // Pretty much, AB 610 now proposes to exempt fast food restaurants located in places which could most afford the $20 minimum wage increase because off how much more they charge already: at casinos, airports, hotels, event centers, theme parks, museums, gambling establishments, corporate campus cafeterias, and publicly owned lands including ports, piers, beaches and parks concessions. Only the mom and pop family-owned fast food restaurants will be paying the $20 per hour minimum wage – a “living wage.”
Here’s what might happen after California raises fast-food wages to $20, from higher burger and pizza prices to better wages for retail workers
March 7, 2024 // Tower said he expected fast-food chains to focus on their value deals in California to attract customers amid higher menu prices. Zackfia said she thought digital order kiosks, which restaurants are rolling out to save on labor costs and improve order accuracy, would spread "even more quickly" in California.
Why Is Panera Exempted From California’s New Minimum Wage Law?
March 4, 2024 // That exemption stands to benefit Greg Flynn, owner and CEO of the Flynn Restaurant Group, a conglomerate that operates more than 2,300 restaurants nationally and is the second-largest Panera franchisee in the world, according to the company's website. Flynn and Newsom go way back: Bloomberg reports that the two attended the same high school at the same time—Flynn was student body president during Newsom's freshman year—and the restaurateur has donated to Newsom's gubernatorial campaigns and bragged to colleagues about his close relationship with the governor.