Posts tagged Minimum wage
MAINE: Mills vetoes farm worker minimum wage hike
April 28, 2024 // "Small family farms will no longer be independent businesses, but will be subsidiaries of large producers contracting out production processes or out of business completely," Julie Ann Smith, the bureau's executive director, said in recent testimony. "You do not have masses of agricultural workers clamoring for unionization. But you have farmers pleading with you not to destroy their livelihoods." Lawmakers could vote to override Mills' objections when they reconvene in August, but the slim margin by which the package of bills was passed will make it difficult to garner the two-thirds majority needed to reverse the governor's decision. In 2022, lawmakers failed to muster enough votes to override Mills' veto of a similar farm worker package that had called for closing loopholes in state and federal labor laws for farm workers, who are not covered by Maine’s minimum wage and overtime regulations.
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.
Minneapolis Is About To Kill Ride-Sharing
April 18, 2024 // Just last month, Seattle's disastrous attempt to enact a minimum wage for app-based food delivery drivers was in the news. The result was $26 coffees, city residents deleting their delivery apps, and drivers themselves seeing their earnings drop by half. Now, the Minneapolis City Council has decided to join the fray in the multifront progressive war against the gig economy—and this time, the outcome could be even worse.
McDonald’s $25 Deal Goes Viral, Linked Directly to California’s Minimum Wage Hike
April 10, 2024 // Her video showcasing a $25 McDonald's meal — 40 nuggets and two large fries, but no drink — got people talking. "OK, so it's $25.39 for 40-piece nuggets and two large fries. You couldn't even throw in the Sprite?" she quipped, highlighting a surprising lack of beverages for the price.
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.”
Bay Area fast food chains continue layoffs ahead of minimum wage increase
April 1, 2024 // Bay Area-based Vitality Bowls franchise owner Brian Hom, who owns two Vitality Bowls in San Jose, told the Wall Street Journal that his crew at the two locations had reduced from four to two employees, adding that he anticipated raising prices by 10% to alleviate labor cost. Hom also told the Wall Street Journal that any expansion plans would likely occur outside of California. "We’ve taken significant measures to optimize profitability as increased costs have arisen," a spokesperson for Vitality Bowls told SFGATE. "This includes menu innovations, tech stack advancements, and several other franchisee support programs.
RESEARCH: Minimum Wage Laws and App-Based Workers
March 30, 2024 // Rideshare apps are not too different. They generate revenue by taking a share of the total cost paid by riders to drivers. What is less clear is how large that fee is and how that fee has changed over time and across platforms. Rather than seeking out a rigid wage floor, a fee floor could stand in for the sense of fairness across platforms of different types. If workers on platforms are truly entrepreneurs, picking and choosing when, where, and how to allocate their labor across multiple platforms, doing more to ensure that markets offer a fair share of revenue can get the job done far more efficiently than attempting to mandate any particular amount.
Opinion: New Labor rule will harm freelance work under the guise of helping workers
March 22, 2024 // In crafting solutions, it is crucial to maintain a focus on protecting vulnerable workers while also supporting innovation and maintaining the flexibility that has become a hallmark of the American economy. Collaborative efforts between businesses, labor organizations, and policymakers can pave the way for regulations that uphold fair labor standards without shutting down economic growth and individual autonomy.
Area restaurants taking a hit as MASS MoCA strike enters its second week
March 15, 2024 // MASS MoCA is in the former location of Sprague Electric, a sprawling campus with multiple buildings. A brewery and several eateries are among those who rent space from the museum. Xavier Jones owner of Bigg Daddy's Philly Steak House said he's had a significant drop in customers, because of the strike. People who live or work in North Adams don't want to cross a daily picket line, Jones said. Just a week before the strike began, on social media Jones posted that he was hiring, looking for chefs to prepare his signature Philly Cheesesteak and chicken wings. On Monday, he said so few customers have placed orders since the strike began, he's had to cut staff, and he is concerned he'll have to cut back even more.
Commentary: Biden pursues organized labor’s agenda through regulation
March 14, 2024 // The OSHA “walkaround” rule flies in the face of a regulation that stipulates that people who accompany an OSHA inspector must be employed by the company under inspection. Under the proposed rule, OSHA representatives would have to simply state that a union official was “reasonably necessary” to the inspection to bring that individual to the site. The walk-around rule presents an opportunity for union organizers to collect information or otherwise infiltrate nonunion workplaces, a clear attempt by OSHA to give unions a leg up in organizing drives. Another example is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s universal proxy rule, which forces companies to include management and dissident shareholder nominees on a single proxy card in contested elections. The rule enabled a coalition of our nation’s largest and most militant unions to extract new concessions from Starbucks by threatening to mount a hostile takeover attempt of the coffee company’s board. Unions will continue to exploit the universal proxy rule to bring other publicly traded companies to the table with threats of a hostile takeover.