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California’s $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers goes into effect

A new California law raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers in the state to $20 an hour goes into effect Monday, affecting restaurants with at least 60 locations nationwide, excluding those that make and sell their own bread. It reached.

Governor Gavin Newsom The bill, AB 1228, was signed into law in September. In addition to raising wages, it would also create a “Fast Food Council” that would include representatives from both workers and employers, and would be able to approve further wage increases and set standards for working conditions.

Governor Gavin Newsom signs legislation raising the minimum wage for California fast food workers to $20 an hour at SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles on September 28, 2023. (Via Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News/Getty Images)

Total minimum wage of other workers in california The hourly wage is $15.50, the highest in the state. The federal minimum wage, unchanged since 2009, is $7.25 an hour, or $15,080 a year for an employee working 40 hours a week.

California food chain lays off workers in face of new minimum wage law

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fast food workers in the U.S. earned a median hourly wage of $13.43 in 2022, while workers in California earned a median hourly wage of $16.60. The new minimum amount equates to an annual salary of $41,600.

Workers and unions have hailed the new law as an advance for workers’ rights, with supporters saying many fast-food workers are not teenagers on their first jobs and opponents are portraying He claims that the image he has is not that of a teenager.

Restaurant owners fear California minimum wage law is a ‘silent tax’ on consumers and will ‘ruin’ their businesses

But restaurant owners warn that raising wages will lead to job cuts and higher prices for consumers. Several food chains in California, including Pizza Hut, Southern California Pizza, Round Table Pizza, and Vitality Bowls, announced layoffs in response to the law’s passage.

pizza hut box

Pizza Hut and other fast food chains laid off employees ahead of the $20 minimum wage law that took effect Monday. (Pizza Hut/FOX News)

“Restaurants are struggling to stay above water, and the Democrats just threw an anvil at them,” James Gallagher, the Republican leader in the California Assembly, told FOX Business. “We warned Democrats that this new mandate would cost jobs. They ignored us. And we have the highest unemployment rate in the country, and it could get worse. ”

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FOX Business’ Louis Casiano and Reuters contributed to this report.

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