A proposal for raising fast food minimum wage to $22 an hour

| January 28, 2023

When Californians vote on November 2024, they will have a minimum wage related item to consider. According to the article, the current minimum wage is $15.50. Californian voters will decide if this will be raised to $22 an hour. In addition to raising minimum wage, the proposal looks at improving working conditions.

From Fox News:

As part of a California law facing voters in the November 2024 ballot, lawmakers are pushing to raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers from $15.50 to $22 per hour. One fast food president, however, raised his concern over the policy.

“Whether you’re a lawmaker, a business owner or leader or an everyday voter, one thing is clear: California has become a dramatic case study of putting bad politics over good policy,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger wrote in an open letter Wednesday.

The proposed legislation would not only raise minimum wage, affecting other top chains including Starbucks, but it would also seek to improve working conditions.

“The Next Revolution” host Steve Hilton echoed the statements of Erlinger while on “Varney & Co” Friday.

“McDonald’s offers, just as many restaurants in that category, a fantastic first job, way up the ladder for people. And that’s a great thing for our country,” he said. “What you do when you put in these absolutely absurd and unrealistic requirements is you just price people out of jobs. You’re already seeing in McDonald’s restaurants and others the rise of automation because it’s cheaper. This is just going to accelerate that, not just at the serving counter, but in the kitchen.”

Hilton emphasized the concerns of many opponents of the law, which was blocked in December 2022 by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge while ballot signatures were counted and verified. The referendum raised more than 623,000 valid voter signatures.

Opponents like Erlinger and Hilton argue that the law would burden owners of chain restaurant franchises and drive up the cost of food.

“Exactly as he said, you have mad politics over sensible policy. It’s a great summary of what’s going on in every area here in California,” Hilton said.

The law, if approved by voters, would establish a 10-member council empowered to set minimum wages and standards for hours and working conditions for California’s fast-food workers.

Two industry groups, the International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association, promoted the referendum that would leave its fate to voters.

Despite opposition, the Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henderson explained in a statement that she remains confident California voters will approve the law.

Fox News has the balance of the story here.

Category: Economy, Liberals suck, Society

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AW1Ed

It’ll pass, too. Cool.

JustALurkinAround

Minimum wage should be $200/hr.

Anonymous

Well, with inflation, just keep votin’ Democrat.

5JC

I’m in for $1,000,000 an hour. We won’t be able to get socialism going until the dollar is wotlrthless.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Didn’t scroll down to see your bid and my bid over JustALurkinAround was $300.00 an hour so now I can’t afford to out bid you and say SOLD to the highest bidder. Got to scroll down and see if their are other bidders.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

I’ll out bid you at $300.00/hr

rgr769

Apparently DC lawers are getting paid $1000 per hour. I thought $250 was outrageous. I guess I was a bargain At $140.

Deckie

California… again… go figure.

Well at least Lars’ job prospects are looking up.

Anonymous

He’ll have to learn “Do you want fries with that?”

A Proud Infidel®™

He’ll actually have to *GASP!*, work!

Anonymous

Work?!

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Green Thumb

Seattle is still taking a hit for their $15 – an hour raise / for servers and such. And the servers were all in! When you toss in tips at $15 /hour, they do pretty well. Instead of closing the overarching wealth gap as the powers that be thought it would, it bridged the lower two – service industry and semi-skilled / skilled labor with unintended consequences (they were warned, though).

So now, a fork lift driver or machine operator making $15/20 an hour back in the day was on par with servers when they went to dine out. So they quit tipping. When they did, the servers had no income (10% reported) to cover their $15 an hour wage getting taxed.

Got so bad they asked that the rules go back to the way they were. Unsure of the outcome.

Green Thumb

Don’t really eat fast food and don’t live in California.

Sad thing is is that this rule is going to screw the underprivildeged, poor and larger minority (and otherwise) population that eat fast food on a regular basis.

I predict a lot more lunchboxes in the future….

SgtM

Skilled labor in Cali, think trained mechanics with their own tools, make double minimum by Cali labor laws. $44 an hour is getting near top tier wages and closing in on the $100,000 a year mark. This is passed on to the end users by increased shop rates. Imagine $200 an hour shop rates. A lot of companies are going to go bare bones on manpower.

5JC

Actually $300/ hr is not unusual at some shops.

Anonymous

All fast food in Commiefornia will be automated now… good luck getting your food right.

SFC D

I’m thinking automated might be better at getting your order right than the asshats wanting $15 an hour who aren’t earning the $10 they’re getting now.

Graybeard

This needed included under the “Stupid People” heading, IMHO.

Another way to push folks to robot and automated services at the price of loss of jobs to the poor folks they are purporting to help.

Anonymous

Two all-beef patties, special sauce, automation…
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Last edited 1 year ago by Anonymous
STSC(SW/SS)

They’ll want a retinal scan for extra ketchep.

MustangCPT

My question is, how is this going to affect McDowell’s?

https://youtu.be/WXgx7Uzislo

AW1 Rod

Kalifornia.

Could that state get ANYMORE fucked up?

But, I answer my own question.

Anonymous

They’ll take it as a challenge.

AW1Ed

The implosion will be fabulous.

Graybeard

The claim “Too Big To Fail” will find popularity again – and the reasonable citizens will be on the hook, again, and the country will sink even lower, again.

MustangCPT

Yup. If we could just let them hit bottom and not have to bail them out, it would be funny. But, since we’d be on the hook, joke’s on us.

MustangCPT

$5,000,000 bucks up front plus what was it? $200K a year for the next 250 years not enough? Shit, you give me that, my work computer and equipment would be at FedEx so fast your head would spin.

AW1Ed

Shitcan it and write ’em a check.

MustangCPT

Well, never thought about it THAT way, but YEAH!

26Limabeans

If it will make the line of cars at the drive thru move faster then
I’m all for whatever it takes. The chow line in Basic would be a
good example for fast food trainees.

A Proud Infidel®™

“$20 an hour to cook burgers and mop? Meet your replacement, *BEEP!*, *CLICK*, *Whirrrr…*”

timactual

A grocery store in my area has a robot that wanders around the store cleaning the floor like a giant “Roomba”. Most of the checkout counters are self-service, which seems to be taking over more and more of the cashier function. Local McDonalds has a machine that takes your order, as does a regional chain of convenience store/gas station/ sandwich shops. A few sit-down restaurants in my area (Olive Garden, Chilis,…) have terminals on the tables and booths that take your order and credit/debit card payment. Gas stations, of course, are all self service now–except in New Jersey. Poor Gomer Pyle is going to have to Learn To Code when he gets out of the Marines.

akpual

I like to run the cart into Marty the robot at Giant.

MustangCPT

That’s funny and disturbing all at once.

STSC(SW/SS)

Nearby Mickie Ds is all kiosk. One person upfront to hand out orders and wait on cash paying customers.

HT3

The local Mickey D’s in Palm Bay has a counter, but they only takes order from the kiosk. I only go when my son is on leave from Norfolk.

Anonymous

McD’s kiosks are harder to use (and more of a pain) than Amazon.com… Taco Bell,’s too.

Drive Thru is easier.

Last edited 1 year ago by Anonymous
MustangCPT

Really? Maybe it’s just the ones in your area. What I hate is trying to use the Amazon app at Whole Foods for the discount codes. After all the aggravation of pulling it up and getting it scanned, I end up saving $0.50 on a $100 grocery purchase. Fuck Jeff Bezos.

Anonymous

Not that Amazon ain’t irkin’ already.

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Anonymous

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HT3

When it comes to minimum wages and the fall-out for over paying un/semi-skilled workers, you can listed to a number of speeches/talks from economists like Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. Other great thinkers on the problems with California is Victor Davis Hanson.

rgr769

Commiefornia is doomed if they start handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars to any Black person claiming slave ancestors. The state will be inundated with bogus claims. It will make those fraudulent unemployment and Covid claims look a few thousand flakey small claims court cases.

MCPO USN

Will Kamala Harris be the first to apply? Maxine Waters?

KoB

Ain’t gonna matter in the long run. Ya won’t be able to buy a big mac when the lizard people kill off all of the farting cows. The real treat will be in the meal worms that are added into the cricket paste.

One might say, “Won’t affect me, I don’t eat at fast food places.” Other than a select few Waffle Houses, I haven’t been in a fast food joint in a long time. However, I have several friends that own and operate food service establishments and they are playing hell getting and keeping employees, tho the help is well paid and treated. One Lady Friend that has been in business for over 20 years and selling out and giving up on it all. She got tired of fighting it. Pity, real nice Eyetalian Menu. New owners are a Inc. holding company that has already said the prices will nearly double I give them, at most, 6 months before they close.

SFC D