Hundreds of fast food restaurant owners in California have criticized a proposal to raise the minimum wage beyond $20 an hour passed last year, saying it would “paralyze” small businesses struggling to survive. warned.
labor union Representatives of fast food workers have asked the state's Democratic-led Fast Food Council. Raise the minimum wage to $20.70 per hour (3.5% increase).
“Further wage increases would once again single out our lives unfairly, leaving thousands of small business owners, customers, and employees like us already struggling to survive on a $20-an-hour minimum wage. It will cripple you.” The owners of 625 fast food restaurants said in a letter to the Fast Food Council on December 23rd.
Last April's 25% hourly wage hike from $16 to $20 an hour led several major fast food chains to raise menu prices and some locations to close due to rising labor costs.
Franchise owners said they are still trying to recover from the effects of the first price increases signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“This price increase has had a devastating impact on local restaurants and local jobs, resulting in higher food prices for families already struggling with high costs of living,” the restaurant owners wrote in the letter. It is written as follows. This was first reported by National Review.
“It's unfair to single out local restaurant owners once again for the higher wages that other industries have to pay.”
They pointed out that in a survey conducted last July, 98% had to increase food prices and 89% had to reduce staff hours.
Nearly three in four (74%) said they were now more likely to close their restaurants, and 73% said they would have to limit employees' ability to pick up shifts or work overtime.
Seven in 10 restaurant owners reported cutting staff or consolidating positions as a result of the $20 hourly law.
“The effects of a $20 per hour minimum wage have been well-documented, with thousands of fast food workers being laid off, hundreds of restaurants closing, and food prices at local restaurants increasing by 13% overall. “There is,” the letter states.
Fast food chains that increased prices include In-N-Out, which increased the price of its hamburgers by 25 cents. Chipotle increased the price of its chicken burritos by 8.3%.
Rubio's California Grill, known for its fish tacos, closed 48 of its approximately 134 locations in late May before filing for bankruptcy in June.
The Post has reached out to the Fast Food Council for comment.
A Newsom spokesperson disputes the negative effects of raising the minimum wage. referring to research at Harvard University The study found that there was “no evidence that wage increases were accompanied by reductions in ancillary benefits” and that there was “no evidence that wage increases had unintended consequences on staffing, scheduling, or wage theft.”
Newsom's office Citing a study by the Institute for Research, Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. Raising the minimum wage “will bring significant benefits to workers; The catastrophic results that critics had predicted did not occur. ”
The governor's aides say the state's fast food sector has added jobs since the new law went into effect. As of July, California had 750,500 fast food jobs, the highest in state history and an increase of 11,000 since the law took effect. According to Newsom's office.
Stanford University Hoover Institution I recently retracted the article. The report cited data showing nearly 10,000 fast-food jobs were lost after the $20-an-hour minimum wage bill was passed in 2023.
The California Fast Food Council is a regulatory state agency created under the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Restoration Act (FAST Act), signed into law by Democrat Newsom in September 2022.
The council is made up of 10 members appointed by the governor and is empowered to raise the minimum wage by up to 3.5% (annual inflation rate) starting January 1 of this year.
Unions representing fast-food workers have accused restaurant owners of cutting employees' hours in response to the wage hikes, largely offsetting the increases.
