Posts tagged Minimum wage
Fair pay for Uber drivers belongs on ballot, Massachusetts court suggests
May 7, 2024 // A group supported by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart is promoting ballot initiatives that would establish that the companies’ drivers are contractors who are exempt from the state’s employment laws — which means that they aren’t entitled to minimum wages, overtime, paid sick leave, unemployment insurance or health benefits. Meanwhile, an initiative promoted by drivers would allow them to form a union and engage in collective bargaining. Both sides claim the other is trying to confuse voters and “logrolling” by combining unrelated provisions into one petition. The state attorney general’s office approved all the initiatives and found itself in the odd position of defending both sides in court.
Georgia Today: Waffle House workers try to unionize; Chatham County DA race; Ocmulgee Mounds park
May 3, 2024 // Workers attachment to the system and commitment to tip earning, is exponentially higher in the fine dining sector, where menu prices are higher, and tips are higher too. Amanda Andrews: But a 20% tip on the Waffle House All Star special is just $2.30. Goldberg says the instability of the restaurant industry in general is another reason wages are low.
Funds pour into Anaheim Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava recall election
May 2, 2024 // On Jan. 30, Unite Here Local 11, a union that represents hotel workers in Anaheim, chipped in $30,000 through its own PAC in seeking Rubalcava’s ouster but hasn’t reported any new contributions since council members scheduled the recall election during a February council meeting. The union sponsored a petition against Rubalcava before getting the recall qualified on the ballot.
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.