Mill Valley, CA: Workers at In-N-Out location behind counter take orders. (Photo: David Tran Photo, Shutterstock)
SEIU Fast Food Labor Union Sends Demands Another Minimum Wage Increase
‘You know what you don’t do? Give another raise after less than a year’
By Evan Symon, August 1, 2024 4:10 pm
The California Fast Food Workers Union, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) affiliate, announced on Thursday that they already want a raise for fast food workers in California at the end of the year, proposing a raise from the new $20-per-hour to $20.70-per-hour.
Following the signing of AB 1228 in October by Governor Gavin Newsom, the new $20 minimum wage for fast food employees, a massive jump from the $16 minimum wage, has forced multiple companies take extreme measures. Some, like Chipotle and McDonalds, have announced already raised prices before the effective wage raise date of April 1st. Others are investing in automated kiosks and other automated devices to help reduce the number of employees. Some businesses outright closed.
Most notable, however, has been the massive amount of layoffs. Already, over 1,200 Pizza Hut drivers have had announced lay-offs, to be replaced by services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats in the coming months. Roundtable Pizza has also done the same with many of their delivery drivers, with many other chains also quietly doing the same for deliveries in the following months, as seen by the jump of fast food businesses on food delivery sites.
As the economic effects took a toll before the law was even in place, lawmakers scrambled to mitigate the damage. AB 1228 bill author, Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), created a new bill to grant numerous exemptions in an attempt to lighten the economic blow of AB 1228, but for fast food restaurants in airports, stadiums, casinos, events and corporate campuses. As the Globe noted, AB 610 does anything but cleanup the mess caused by AB 1228. While it was passed, closures still continued, but on the more quiet side. In June, this included the mass closing of Rubio’s restaurants across the state.
Currently, many fast food restaurants are on the edge in California. As the Globe reported earlier this week, 74% of all fast food restaurants are now looking at an increased likelihood of shutting down. Overseeing the changes since April has been the Governor’s new Fast Food Council, a group under the Department of Industrial Relations that sets minimum health, safety and employment standards across the California fast food industry. And, despite the wage going up from $16 an hour to $20 an hour only four months ago, the fast food union on Wednesday gave their latest demands to the Council, which included a raise in the minimum wage.
The latest minimum wage demand
While the SEIU is demanding other things, such as more stable schedules for employees and more investigations into things like wage theft and unsafe conditions, the question of a higher minimum wage surprised many. According to their memo released on Wednesday, the SEIU wants the minimum wage for fast food workers to go up by 70 cents an hour by January 2025 to help workers deal with inflation.
“As California’s fast-food industry grows, cooks and cashiers are doubling down on their fight across the state to win safe and healthy stores, stable hours, pay that keeps up with inflation and training to understand their rights on the job,” said the memo. “The industry has added jobs and multiple franchisees have also noted that the higher wage is already attracting better job candidates, thus reducing turnover.”
However, this argument ignores the fact that thousands of fast food jobs have been lost since the bill became law in April, with an even higher minimum wage likely to raise prices and cause greater financial distress for fast food restaurant owners and operators.
“It’s obvious that the fast food union and the SEIU don’t know much about how fast food restaurants actually operate,” said Raul, a fast food restaurant owner in Long Beach, to the Globe on Thursday. “I mean the $20 minimum wage. That should stay in place, static at the same price, for years while everyone else catches up. We’d all prefer it go down, but if it is staying, then we don’t have any more raises on top of that for years. We all hate it because it is putting our businesses in jeopardy.
“You know what you don’t do? Give another raise after less than a year. If this happens, you know, prices will go up again and we’ll have to go more towards automation. Just ask the auto industry how well automation worked out for their workers. It’s hard for us now. Another raise and, well, we’ll be looking at the red again. And we’ll have to make hard decisions again.”
The Fast Food Council is set to meet again in September, including a possible decision over the union’s demands.
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I’d like a raise to deal with inflation as well. It seems employers no longer value experience, reliability and loyalty.
To get any increase, one has to find another job and either quit or play one against the other and see which comes out on top.
It won’t ne too long until the fast food workers and hotel room cleaners will be getting paid more that the clientele that they are paid t serve.
Define a “living wage,” please.
Define “marginalized,” “under-served,” “under-resourced,” and anything with the word “historically” in it.
See, I missed a bunch of stuff, and I need an update…unless I didn’t miss anything and these terms and concepts are meant to be taken seriously just because they were invented and trotted out.
One last thing: tell me again about my “privilege,” when no one has ever given me diddly for anything, ever…’cuz I’m White, you know…and male…double loser in the sweepstakes. Oh, to be a colored burger flipper!…I mean a burger flipper of color (?).
Oh come ON. This is complete craziness. The commie SEIU and their stupid “demands” are going to kill all of these businesses. Is that what they want? It might be. Will workers wise up?
They need to replace these workers with AI and robotics. Problem solved.
What??? Only a measly seventy cents???
C’mon SEIU dipwads, inflation is up at least 30%!!! (Thanks in part to the outrageous $4 increase that you just received…)
Ask for at least another SIX DOLLARS to keep up with inflation!!!
Heck, if we ask for $26, let’s round up to $30 an hour for a living wage!!!
Wait, why not shoot for the stars and ask for $50 an hour??? Why not $100 an hour???
Obviously these unelected “community organizers” have never prepared a payroll and don’t understand the additional tax burdens that these egregiously generous wage hikes cost the business…
But think of the Union dues that these wage hikes will generate for the SEIU and its leaders!!!
California is clown world… I’m thinking Belkabeast has the right idea and getting out to escape this feel-good, economy-killing State government, with all its unelected committee and panel members who have their head up their six….
It’s a Cunning plan: greenies claim fast food is bad for you, as is meat and chicken, and practices in raising beef and chicken are barbaric. Therefore, raise prices until the fast food no longer becomes available. Then argue that a “universal income” is the only way to replace the lost income of the people who lost their jobs, which in turn will ease the transition to eating bugs and kelp instead.
No other explanation makes sense.
Now that Chevron is leaving California for Texas, they’ll likely pass this to backfill the lost tax revenues, right?
That’s how asinine our California legislators and our brain-dead Governor are…
But as Rod so intelligently mentioned before, these price hikes and upstream livestock “culling” for the pink-eye inducing “bird flu” is congruent with the UN/WEF initiiatives to crush farming and livestock production to herd everyone into their “15 minute cities” and ibsect-based protein sources…
Wanna bet those at the top of those Satanically-evil organizations and their “one world government” will still be dining on steaks and chicken???
Wake up people, we’re being played as suckers by our “Young Global Leader” “Governor” and his corrupt band of communist Democrat minions….
I want gourmet food for these prices. Why should I pay more than sit down restaurant prices for “food” that should go straight to the garbage bin? In-N-Out excepted.
I guess their must be few independent fast food outlets still standing to be driven out of business.
After all these years….my food looks nothing like the picture…
Abolish the Minimum Wage!
It discriminates against those who have no skills.
It will make employers compete for those that want to work.
The editor of this piece should take a pay cut to fund the fast food workers… the sentence structure and grammar throughout this ‘article’ are atrocious!
Greed! That is all it has been.
With any luck, everyone who owns a business in that broken, rotten state will leave like Chevron. You get what you vote for, collapse and poverty!