Business groups claim hard-fought $20 hourly wage victory will cause reduced hours, layoffs and price hikes – critics say otherwise

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13967664

Business groups claim hard-fought $20 hourly wage victory will cause reduced hours, layoffs and price hikes – critics say otherwise

As fast-food workers celebrated a pivotal wage increase to $20 an hour in California last week, an old economic debate was awakened by business groups and others claiming the increase will wind up hurting workers through reduced hours and layoffs, hurt customers with price hikes, and harm the franchise owners of fast food restaurants.

Their critics are not so sure.

The hard-fought wage increase to $20 an hour from California’s current minimum wage, $16 an hour, was a compromise to initial demands of $22 an hour with annual wage increases. Representatives of fast-food workers and the fast food industry came to a deal to avoid what would have been a costly ballot initiative over the passage and signing of the California fast food sector bill last year.

“Frontline workers like me organized, went on strike, and fought to pass a historic law that raises our wages and gives us a seat at table with some of the biggest fast food corporations in the world,” said Anjelica Hernandez, a McDonald’s worker in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years. “Even though we are the engine of a billion-dollar industry, too many of us struggle to keep with rent, our bills and the rising cost of living.”

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    2•8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    As fast-food workers celebrated a pivotal wage increase to $20 an hour in California last week, an old economic debate was awakened by business groups and others claiming the increase will wind up hurting workers through reduced hours and layoffs, hurt customers with price hikes, and harm the franchise owners of fast food restaurants.

    “The reality is that delivery drivers have become more numerous in the last couple years because of Covid,” said Michael Reich, UC Berkeley chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics.

    Reich also argued that previous research has found employment increases as a result of higher minimum wage, lowers turnover rates for businesses, and makes it easier to recruit and retain employees.

    A group representing fast-food franchise owners poured more than half a million dollars into political donations for ads opposing elected officials who helped craft and pass the legislation.

    The Center for Union Facts, a non-profit founded by a Washington lobbyist Rick Berman, who 60 Minutes referred to as “Dr Evil” for his tactics in advocating for business interests, is running television advertisements in California claiming the wage increase is a “wrecking ball” for the fast food industry.

    It doesn’t get much more local than that, and that increased spending actually produces jobs,” said Tia Koonse, Legal and Policy Research Manager at the UCLA Labor Center.

    The original article contains 890 words, the summary contains 222 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!