The California Fast Food Workers Union is urging the state to again raise the minimum wage for fast-food employees.
According to a letter sent to the statewide Fast Food Council last month, the union is asking for a $20.70 wage starting in 2025 and a $21.40 wage in 2026. The proposed yearly 3.5% increase is a response to rising inflation, the letter said.
The council was formed to establish wages and regulations for the fast-food industry through legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2023. That legislation also delivered fast-food employees one of their largest wage bumps ever, raising the minimum wage from $16.21 to $20 beginning in April. The union’s letter called the almost 25% jump in wages a “major achievement.”
But several union members said that restaurants have cut their hours in response to the wage increase, all but offsetting the bump in wages. Even after April, fast-food workers still face “impossible” choices between paying rent or phone bills, the union’s letter said.
Gilberta Acevedo, a San Jose Taco Bell worker, said she’s only working a quarter of the hours that she used to. She said her manager told her that sales are down and her hours were reduced accordingly, but she’s suspicious of that.
She said her store had a monitor that displayed every sale, and she hasn’t seen any changes. Plus, the store has hired more employees and given them the hours she used to work, she said. Now, without her usual hours, she said she has fallen behind on her trash bill.
“I feel really sad. My supervisor, whenever she needed me to stay extra time, I would always stay to help out,” Acevedo said through a translator, adding that she thinks the store is retaliating against its workers. “So, to go from having regular hours to now 20 to 25 [over two weeks], it makes me really sad.”
At a San Jose watch party hosted by the workers union to follow the Fast Food Council’s meeting Wednesday in Sacramento, workers urged councilmembers to listen to workers like Acevedo. And many amongst the crowd of about 30, which included Spanish-only speakers, expressed frustration that they couldn’t access a translation of the meeting.
Several speakers during their public comments to the meeting, including Acevedo who spoke remotely from the watch party, asked the council to dedicate a public hearing specifically to listening to stories from fast-food workers across the state.
The San Jose watch party was a part of the union’s statewide effort to pressure the council into action on its labor demands. As workers from the union’s Los Angeles chapter chanted “Si se puede” during their public comment at the meeting, some of the San Jose workers nodded their heads along to the chants.
But the brand-new council was more preoccupied with simply getting itself going. In its second-ever meeting, the council’s discussions focused more on hiring support staff and understanding how to create agendas.
“We’re a new board entirely,” said Nick Hardeman, the council’s chair. “We’re building from the ground up.”
Fast-food workers weren’t the only group trying to enact a change from the council. Several public commenters asked the council to recommend exemptions from the $20 wage increase for ice cream parlors.
And Matthew Sutton of the California Restaurant Association asked the council to give restaurants time to adjust to April’s wage increase before taking any more action.
“What you’ve done is enormous, right?” Sutton said, referring to the wage increase. “Four dollars overnight: that’s beyond shocking.”
But speakers at the public meeting and the watch party said that they didn’t have time to wait for change.
“I’m tired. I have been working in the fast-food industry for over 20 years,” said Lourdes Farfan while also giving public comment remotely from the San Jose watch party. “You need to hear us out urgently.”
And how about a Ferrari, a nice garage and house next to it? Fast food if it is food anymore won’t be affordable. We’ll all be eating crickets and getting sick from it. Can you believe how out of balance and weird this world has become? It is time to reel it in! I guess we should all raise our prices too. After all it’s just numbers on a wall. 😁
I would also remind such workers that the higher you are paid the more it is expected of you. At the extreme end a CEO may be expected to pull rabbits out of a hat. Can’t do that and the CEO may have to make ends meet on a “golden parachute” when ejected. 🙄
When government – in pursuit of good intentions – tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player. Milton Freedman
How about $1000.00 an hour??
Sheesh!
How many times did they practice their lines ? ? ?
Since when did minimum wage jobs, become a long term career ? ? ?
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Prediction, meal prices will increase again, more jobs will be lost and businesses will close.
It’s called the wage price spiral, workers make more, prices for goods and services increase and cycle repeats.
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After fast food worker raise democrats made recently, roughly 12,000 workers lost their jobs.
Will newsom’s advise to those out of work be same as biden’s ? ?
biden told told coal miners obama biden regime put out of work, to learn how to code.
(computer programming)
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democrat politicians in CA state legislature must believe all they have to do is pass a bill and all will be good from then on, never giving consideration to long term consequences of what they just did.
CA democrats by their actions have greatly accelerated rate of worker replacement by automation.
Even more will be out of work in years to come.
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Would not be surprised in next five to eight years, fast food restaurants will have only two or three workers, doing clean up and stocking machines with ingredients that prepare the food.
An opinion piece from Papa John. This spells it all out.
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2024/07/31/exclusive-papa-johns-founder-john-schnatter-the-troubling-future-for-fast-food-franchisees/
Gavin and every doofus who voted for a $20 min wage knew this would happen. Everyone with half a brain knew this would happen. Higher wages = laid off workers, reduced benefits, slashed hours, and increases in prices. But they sold it to the sheep as great for workers. My neighbor’s 7 yr old has a better grasp of economics than the average Dem.
You get what you vote for.
Food prices are rising faster than my wages (and mortgage and gas, and loss of value due to inflation) and the unions won’t realize that they are the ones driving up consumable costs by raising part time, temp job wages so high with the full force of the government behind it.
No more tipping, and less eating out. It’s the logical end game to this stupidity.
The owners may see the wisdom of hiring high school students for part time positions when they are available to work. Fill in the rest of the time with non students who can work part time. Fast food work is not designed to support families.
AD
The people with little to offer want all the fancy stuff that money can buy without having to put much effort in to earn it. Time to get a better job pull your boot straps up kids time to grow up.
I don’t know about you, but I think having to stand over a hot fryer when it’s 100 degrees outside and the A/C barely works is a big effort; just as I think bending over to pick strawberries in 100 degree heat is a big effort, or being forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder carving up chickens during a pandemic is a big effort. As for wanting “all the fancy stuff”: you mean all that fancy stuff like a place to sleep other than the street or more than Ramen noodles to eat? I get that people don’t want to pay more for their burgers and fries and Buffalo chicken wings, but it seems to me blaming fast food workers is misplaced. I blame monopolies in Big Ag and their greedflation for most of the cost rises in food. Monopolies are never good for consumers.
Pay is determined by the value added to the product or service.
Businesses are in business to make a profit for the owner(s).
Anyone who doesn’t understand this will never understand economics, taxation, finance or any other business-related activity.
KPA:
Blame and playing the victim vs. ambition and motivation.
Who’s forcing them to not get a better jobs?
It’s called “Free Markets”; interfere with it and minimum wage goes to $0. Suddenly $16 per hour will look pretty good.
See the jobs report today? See the market getting pounded today?
Bidenomics at work.
Sooo… a worker in California couldn’t speak the language? Wants another raise? How about some skills with that whine. Maybe you’d better place yourself in the job market if you spoke the common language of the inhabitants.
Taco Bell is going to install those automated machines in no time.
Be careful what you wish for.
Humm, ….
As a Senior, newly on Social Security, that would be a nice addition to work part-time for some extra bucks.
But for real, I don’t have desire to go down that road.
Also think it’s crazy that the Union is asking for another increase, …. and so soon.
Fast food jobs. Newspaper delivery. Mowing lawns. Jobs like these used to be filled by teenagers or young adults going to college.; they were part time. Now, they’re filled by adults with families, looking to make them a career position. Sorry, folks, but they’re not. Take what your menial labor is worth and shut up – you’re going to bankrupt your employer or force them out of business.
They already ruined the market with their other increase. If they are getting paid $21 an hour then people that do actual work want more an hour too. I work in the trades and workers who were getting paid $20 an hour for work that is way harder than flipping a burger now want $30, raising prices on everything. Also hurts our teens who want to gain work experience, fast food owners don’t want to pay a teenager an adult wage, so teens are finding it more and more difficult to find jobs.
That’s as dumb as paying people to not use drugs or paying people for no reason (as being done in SF) ….. maybe cut their hours to 10 instead of 20 then?
I really do think the Sacramento focus on fast food workers has a political component to it.
Fast food in general is anathema to the environmental lobbyists. Cars idling in line, plastic forks. Etc. Hurting that industry would be viewed by them as a plus.
Fast Food workers are also an important target for the union lobbyists. With higher minimum wages, staff turnover is lower and remaining workers are more likely to be persuaded by ongoing union solicitations.
I expect there will be a lot of restaurants and fast food places going bankrupt in Concord over the next few years due to increased costs. Better choose a few you really like and patronize them!
It will never be enough. They have learned that rather than work to a higher paying position, or seek a job that pays better, all they have to do is complain they aren’t making enough. That Taco Bell employee is seeing the effects of this. She may be making more per hour, but now working less hours, with a net loss in earnings. That is reality, if you become more expensive to have on payroll than what your position brings in, then it is sound business to reduce your impact (less hours). That doesn’t even take into consideration whether she is an effective worker or not. I have seen employees where I wonder why they are still there. The state needs to minimize the level they have infiltrated the running of businesses.
It might be that Gilberta would be a more valuable employee and would be working more hours if she learned to speak English instead of needing a translator.
Maybe she can’t see a drop in business but I sure can whenever I drive past any fast food business between 12 – 1pm and raising wages will only make it worse.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-expensive-prices-too-high-fast-food-restaurant-falling-sales-2024-7?op=1
This is the world we live in now, especially in California. It’s the mommy state democrat government. The government accomplishes nothing, but excels at handing out trinkets and beads to get themselves power and to fill their bank accounts.
What ever happened to let the free market decide? Keep the government out of it.
This is what scares me about Kamala the Krazy Kackling you-know-what being President.
The fast food council needs to open their own fast food place and pay these workers whatever they think is a living wage.
These people really don’t understand basic economics, the increase in minimum wage has already led to layoffs, reduction in hours and less overtime opportunities. Franchise owners have passed the cost on to consumers and are feeling the pinch, and no longer looking to expand operations in CA. It’s also led to more automation. Increase the minimum wage and you’re only going to see more of the same.
Hmm, how can fast food owners reduce costs ? ? ?
CA democrats wanting to get many minimum wage workers off public assistance, to save state money, by forcing up wages which has made human labor, replaceable. Advances in artificial intelligence are happening, still don’t have all the bugs worked out yet, problems with speech recognition on drive thru ordering may take time to work out. Fields of robotics, controls and machine vision are solid.
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Workers who won’t be out of a job will be electrical / mechanical types doing automation installs, trouble shooting and maintenance. An they’ll be making allot more than $21 per hour, due to their having a skill set that is in demand.
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‘A major change is coming to how you order at Taco Bell –
and it’s very different to McDonald’s’
https://tinyurl.com/429xes68
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My opinion, – – – aren’t democrat politicians supposed to help their constituents???
How does putting people out of work and accelerating automation that eliminates jobs help those with a limited skill set??? Guess liberal politicians don’t remember how farm workers were “HELPED” last Century.
Increased cost human labor which served to accelerate automation outside of industry.
Worked 35 years as an industrial electrician, last 20 doing nothing but special projects building and installing advances in control systems and machine vision.
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It’s truly unfortunate so many democrat politicians in state legislature, are such limited, shallow thinkers.
Californian’s deserves to have so much better.
Is anyone surprised?
The government required the pay to be increased. The business raised prices to offset the cost of the employees. Customers quit going (I cannot remember the last fast food I ate), thus less demand. Less demand leads to the business saying ‘i dont need that many employees on shift’. Employees lose money, even though their hourly rate went up.
Now the union wants to rinse and repeat.
In N Out starts at about $22 an hour and their business is doing just fine. Same goes for many other private restraunts. It seems like it’s mostly the big publicly traded companies that hate this because it goes against their ‘we need to increase profits every year forever to keep shareholders happy and executives rich’ mantra.
Most fast food joints are franchised. Mom and pop can’t afford the increased cost. In and out is corporate run. Their restaurants in other states probably subsidize the restaurants in CA.
I used to like the bean burrito at Taco Bell. It was about a buck fifty. I remember when it was 59 cents. Now it is almost $2.25. I stopped going altogether and just eat at home.
I work in the food industry and I don’t qualify for this wage increase. Why should just one sector get it? And now have the gall to ask for more money? I hope this all comes crashing down and we see fewer fast food places.Fast “food” isn’t even food, lets do away with it.
I think they should pay them 100k annually, and charge $140. for a Big Mac, and see how that works out for their jobs and their business.
Woke, Woke and more Woke strategy. Went to get a Whopper Jr. alone. Over $6 bucks. I realize combos price a bit better. But, only fries I ever have are McDonald’s very seldom and drink Lemonade, which I have @ home.
Flipping burgers & asking if you want to super-size your combo gets paid more than the Nurse who is trying to save your life…. only in California run by dems SMDH
Fast food workers listen up its not a career people!
You get paid equivalent to your skills of high school labor and you cannot gripe you can’t support your family unless you get paid $20/hour and now you want even more.
I do not support fast food paying them their ridiculous wages anyway so my $$ don’t go to them now or in the future.
Maybe force the fast food place to add a housing component for the workers. They can live there for free. Add 3 stories of apartments on top of every place. Problem solved, you have a wage and an affordable place to live. Maybe do that for all kinds of placed where low skilled people work. On top of 7-11, coffee shops, liquor stores, how about the dollar store. When does this end. Unionized fast food workers, wow.
California is a highly unionized state, it’s an election year, . . . . gettin’ the idea yet?
Politicians are using employer dollars, thru the raise to get union votes.
Election years democrats start talking up minimum wage or the new one reparations.
After elections they stop talking about what they used to get votes.
CA union members see democrats are pro union, ’cause look what they did for fast food workers.
An they know they’re getting union votes.
gettin’ played . . . . .
I am always mused who my small town brother and his buddy took a summer job in college running a locally owned fast food burger joint. My brother went on years and years later to open a successful restaurant in the Seattle area and another version of it in the San Juan islands. His buddy wound up being a VP at McDonalds.
So overpaid burger flippers just got an absurd raise and they already want more? You can’t make
this stuff up. What they don’t realize is they are soon to be laid off.
I went to Carl’s, which I consider a step above most fast food. 2 burgers,1 onion and 1 zucchini cost
$37 out the door. No drinks.No specials. Just a matter of time before they’re gone.
I posted this on Facebook when fast food employees were striking for $15/hour:
“For those fast food employees striking for $15 an hour, let’s do some math. At $15 an hour, Johnny Fry-Boy would make $31,200 annually. An E1 (Private) in the military makes $18,378. An E5 (Sergeant) with 8 years of service only makes $35,067 annually. So you’re telling me, Sally McBurgerFlipper, that you deserve as much as those kids getting shot at, deploying for months in hostile environments, and putting their collective asses on the line every day, protecting your unskilled butt?!
Here’s the deal, Baconator, you are working in a job designed for a kid in high school who is learning how to work and earning enough for gas, and hanging out with their equally goofy high school pals. If you have chosen this as your life long profession, you have failed. If you don’t want minimum wage don’t have minimum skills.”
If the minimum wage goes up, then so should everyone else’s because there’s no way that someone that works in Fast Food should be getting paid near the same amount as someone who puts their life on the line.
That’s not okay
Umm, so you pay them more and what happens? The food portions get smaller, the menu shrinks. The quality of the restaurant goes down or even out of business. Then, eventually, the union workers will lose their jobs. Either because robots/computers/kiosks will take their place or because the restaurant went under! Workers become unreliable, with frivolous lawsuits and complaints. All too expensive for a food establishment to maintain & make a profit! No to rate increases!