by M Dowling, Independent Sentinel:
California implemented a $20 minimum wage only a month ago, which many workers celebrated. However, the initial optimism has given way to concerns as massive layoffs sweep various industries. Who could have predicted that?
Also, not every fast food worker is getting $20 an hour. Now, all want wage increases, and the unions are pushing for more with no end in sight.
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Before you know it, more layoffs will follow, and businesses will fold. We could start seeing robots.
The LA Times
“Clearly, the Legislature understands that some workers deserve $20, so they must understand that everybody deserves $20,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, a national organization calling for higher salaries in the service sector.
Jayaraman, also director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, led a rally outside the Capitol in Sacramento last week, calling for a statewide $20 minimum wage for all…
Last week, San Diego unions representing hotel, janitorial, and convention workers called for $25 an hour. In another move reflective of how the movement has changed, the Fight for $15 campaign — nearly a decade ago considered revolutionary — changed its name last week to Fight for a Union…
“Should we do more than $18? Yeah, of course,” Sanberg said. “This idea to pull it back in order to go for something bigger in the future … that point of view is kind of making chess pieces out of working people’s lives.”…
The minimum wage in Los Angeles will increase by 50 cents in July to $17.28 an hour.
Officials in West Hollywood raised the minimum wage to $19.08… Employers in Mountain View, San Francisco, and Berkeley have to pay more than $18 an hour.
Reality
Republicans and businesses like the California Chamber of Commerce oppose minimum wage hikes. They argue that business owners should be responsible for their own financial decisions.
“We can’t expect the business community to continue to absorb this time and time again,” said Assemblymember Heath Flora (R-Ripon), who co-chairs the labor committee.
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