California restaurants, part-owned by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, are still offering some employees hourly wages even though the state recently raised the minimum wage to $20, according to job listings. He reportedly paid $16.
PlumpJack Cafe in Olympic Valley, California, is owned by a company called PlumpJack Group, which was founded by Newsom. It’s worth noting that the Democratic governor placed his own business holdings in a blind trust in 2018, barring him from having any say in the wages offered by restaurants. according to To the Sacramento Bee. (Related: Minimum wage hike at California fast food restaurants could cause problems for public schools)
Job postings for the restaurant were posted on multiple job market sites, including ZipRecruiter and Indeed, with job openings ranging from “host” to “line cook.” Some job openings, such as line cooks and pastry cooks, listed wages starting at $22 or $25 an hour, but a host or busser position posted 27 days ago listed wages as low as $16 an hour.
California’s new minimum wage increase goes into effect on April 1 for fast food restaurants across the state, requiring them to pay their employees at least $20 an hour. The bill, which Newsom signed into law in September 2023, would affect 500,000 workers in the state and is opposed by Newsom. was praised He said the new law would “give hard-working fast food workers a strong voice and a seat at the table, resulting in fairer wages, safer and healthier working conditions, and better training.”
Why @CA Governor @GavinNewsomFood businesses don’t pay $20 an hour? Live jobs in Olympic Valley that pay $16 an hour. It’s very, very expensive to live there…but he doesn’t do what others say and he doesn’t pay a living wage. https://t.co/hwppKvQgSY pic.twitter.com/JcVDF5PrsD
— Joe Patterson (@Patterdude) April 2, 2024
While Newsom advocates for increases, restaurateurs are warning of the impact the new law will have on businesses across the Blue State. Former Foster Freeze assistant general manager Monica Navarro told FOX Business on Wednesday that the Lemoore, Calif., store was closed and all employees were laid off, reportedly due to wage increases. . Navarro said she not only noticed that local businesses had already begun to close, but that many of the employees she spoke with were now having “significantly reduced hours.” Ta.
Chains like Pizza Hut and Round Table Pizza previously reported to the state that they would cut 1,280 delivery drivers this year to prepare for the increase, according to the Wall Street Journal. Since last September, the number of fast food employees statewide has decreased by 1.3%, and total private sector employment has decreased by 0.2% during the same period.
“This is the reality of restaurants today,” a spokesperson for Fat Brands, which operates Round Table Pizza locations in California, told the magazine. “Operators are doing their best to maintain staff and keep their doors open.”
Other restaurants, such as El Pollo Loco, are also turning to automation to balance labor costs, automating parts of the food-making process, WSJ reported.
Newsom is accused of seeking a waiver to avoid a pay increase from Panera Bread franchisee Greg Flynn, who donated more than $100,000 to Newsom’s 2022 campaign. received massive backlash. Flynn’s chain restaurants were included in the wage increase exemption that allowed bakeries and restaurants. located Minimum wage increases must be avoided within “airports, hotels, large event centers, theme parks, museums, gaming venues, corporate campuses, and certain public lands.”
Flynn reportedly wanted his chain not to be considered a fast food restaurant, so the Service Employees Union, the group that pushed for the bill, tried to get Newsom to sign the bill by calling for bakeries to be considered fast-food restaurants. It is said that the decision was made to create an exemption provision. according to To Bloomberg.
Since the charges against the governor, Newsom’s office and Flynn have said chain restaurants likely won’t be exempt from the increase. according to To the Associated Press.
“Such a narrow exemption has little practical value. As is true for all peer-to-peer restaurants in the fast-casual sector, they will almost certainly have to offer market-value wages to attract and retain employees.” “There is a need,” Flynn told the magazine.
