Calif Fast Food Workers - $20/hr

[Ben]

CA fast food workers now make $20/hr. From what I read, this only applies to fast food workers, not other unskilled labor. I see that Waffle House workers now want $25/hr.

I'm pretty sure that when you figure in all the hours they work, the OWNERS of the diner and burger joint in my town don't make much more than that.

Burgers are gonna get expensive in CA. As are plumbing jobs, electrical jobs, and all the other skilled labor when those guys see unskilled people's salaries getting closer and closer to their salaries for skilled work.

https://twitchy.com/brettt/2023/10/02/california-fast-food-workers-now-making-at-least-20-an-hour-n2388043

[Brad Johnson]

Cali just guaranteed a lot of struggling wage earners a trip to the unemployment line. $40k per person is a ton of incentive to automate. Everything.

Brad

[dogmush]

https://youtu.be/sMsNZsp4LE0?si=fybpQSc0xC3BrZt3

Automatic burger machine. Already in CA.

[charby]

The default advertised starting wage (retail and fast food) here is $12/hr, many places offering $15 and I live in a fairly cheap cost of living community.

I bartend on the side for extra cash, and my base wage is $9/hr and I'm over $25 when you include tips.

[Ben]

https://youtu.be/sMsNZsp4LE0?si=fybpQSc0xC3BrZt3

Automatic burger machine. Already in CA.

I crack up that the same rich liberals who scream for "living wage" for the workers, are standing in a long line to get into the hipster place with the burger machine. 

[Ben]

Cali just guaranteed a lot of struggling wage earners a trip to the unemployment line. $40k per person is a ton of incentive to automate. Everything.

Brad

This is not calling Brad out, but his post brings up a pet peeve of mine. It doesn't matter if you take the right or left side of the argument regarding the condition and what the solution should be, but working the counter at McDonalds should NOT be a 30 year career.

These are part time jobs for High School kids and retirees, short term jobs for people that need a boost, or potentially a career ladder, since places like McDonalds can take a motivated person from burger flipper up the ladder to good paying management positions.

There should be no "living wage" for burger flippers. Certainly not a wage that is comparable to skilled jobs.

[Brad Johnson]

Fully agree. Maybe it's a roadmap to bigger things, possibly managment or ownership, but front of house is as entry level as entry level gets. Pay follows accordingly. I'd like to see what they mandatory minimum for state jobs is. Disclose what you pay your state house custodial staff, hmmm? I'd bet a good burger it isn't $41k a year.
Brad

[MechAg94]

Fully agree. Maybe it's a roadmap to bigger things, possibly managment or ownership, but front of house is as entry level as entry level gets. Pay follows accordingly. I'd like to see what they mandatory minimum for state jobs is. Disclose what you pay your state house custodial staff, hmmm? I'd bet a good burger it isn't $41k a year.
Brad

Also ask them what wage they pay their housekeepers and nannies. 

[HeroHog]

So, I worked since I was 11 or 12 till I was 52. Paid taxes on my income since I was 15. Have been 100% disabled since 2009. Get a VA disability monthly benefit of < $400. Shouldn't _I_ get a living wage level pension?

[Hawkmoon]

I'd like to see what they mandatory minimum for state jobs is. Disclose what you pay your state house custodial staff, hmmm? I'd bet a good burger it isn't $41k a year.

The state probably doesn't pay the custodial staff anything. They probably contract it out, to a minority-owned (or paper) company that hires illegal aliens and pays them under the table.

[Northwoods]

So, I worked since I was 11 or 12 till I was 52. Paid taxes on my income since I was 15. Have been 100% disabled since 2009. Get a VA disability monthly benefit of < $400. Shouldn't _I_ get a living wage level pension?

No.  Clearly you should die since you’re a Gaia hating white racist. 

[Ben]

No.  Clearly you should die since you’re a Gaia hating white racist.

He should die by torture since he's also old. Old white men are the worst.

[AZRedhawk44]

So, I worked since I was 11 or 12 till I was 52. Paid taxes on my income since I was 15. Have been 100% disabled since 2009. Get a VA disability monthly benefit of < $400. Shouldn't _I_ get a living wage level pension?

No.  And I'm serious.

No government should be capable of bonding future generations of voters into indebted servitude.  Whether government debt, or pensions for employees.

[K Frame]

And, in the realms of automation, Chipotle is testing automated methods of making burrito bowls and salads.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/03/chipotle-tests-automation-for-burrito-bowls-and-salads-.html

[HeroHog]

No.  And I'm serious.

No government should be capable of bonding future generations of voters into indebted servitude.  Whether government debt, or pensions for employees.

Well, it was kinda tongue-in-cheek, more of a "well, if burger flippers deserve $20 - $25/hr STARTING pay, then..."

Now, if the Fed had just left their sticky, stinking paws off the SS$ and possibly properly invested it, it would be a non issue, provided they didn't hand out SS to every Tom, Dick, and Harry to come along! Before the C-19 Plandemic, we were comfortable on our SS (provided we ran into no surprises). Since then, not so much!

[AZRedhawk44]

Well, it was kinda tongue-in-cheek, more of a "well, if burger flippers deserve $20 - $25/hr STARTING pay, then..."

Now, if the Fed had just left their sticky, stinking paws off the SS$ and possibly properly invested it, it would be a non issue, provided they didn't hand out SS to every Tom, Dick, and Harry to come along! Before the C-19 Plandemic, we were comfortable on our SS (provided we ran into no surprises). Since then, not so much!

SS was always a sham.  It was engineered to be one, with the very first generation of recipients.

Ida May Fuller put in about $22 and took out about $25,000.

There is absolutely no way to sugarcoat that into anything other than intergenerational theft, and just because older generations got screwed by it doesn't mean it's okay to perpetuate it.

[charby]

I read somewhere that if minimum wage was tracking inflation, it would be around $21/Hr.

Maybe our complaint is that the non-minimum wage workers aren't getting paid enough either.

[MechAg94]

I read somewhere that if minimum wage was tracking inflation, it would be around $21/Hr.

Maybe our complaint is that the non-minimum wage workers aren't getting paid enough either.

Where I am, the going rate for low skill workers is higher than minimum wage anyway.  I am sure some still pay min wage, but most of the better places pay more otherwise they can't keep decent workers. 

[Pb]

Maybe our complaint is that the non-minimum wage workers aren't getting paid enough either.

My complaint is that all wage and price controls are counterproductive.

[dogmush]

I read somewhere that if minimum wage was tracking inflation, it would be around $21/Hr.

Maybe our complaint is that the non-minimum wage workers aren't getting paid enough either.

The federal minimum wage was set to $7.25 on July 24th, 2009.

Tracking the CPI inflation, that would be $10.34 in Aug 2023  https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

To get to $21 you'd have to inflate $7.25 at a straight 8% inflation for the 14 years since 2009, and while CPI is definatly played with down, inflation was 8% for 14 years straight.
https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html?cstartingamount2=7.25&cinrate2=8&cinyear2=14&calctype=2&x=Calculate#forward

[charby]

It was established in 1938 at $0.25/hr.

[AZRedhawk44]

It was established in 1938 at $0.25/hr.

It needs to be pegged to a quarter ounce of silver then.

[Northwoods]

It needs to be pegged to a quarter ounce of silver then.

It needs to go away entirely.  It has done far more harm than good.  All it really does is price a lot of unskilled workers out of the labor market so they don’t develop actual skills that would make them more valuable.

[charby]

It needs to go away entirely.  It has done far more harm than good.  All it really does is price a lot of unskilled workers out of the labor market so they don’t develop actual skills that would make them more valuable.

on the flipside it also prevents employers from taking advantage of workers too. Think of a mentally disabled person being employed as a dishwasher in a restaurant for less money than what should be paid.

Or what happened in West Liberty, IA at a turkey plant 10 years ago. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/mentally-disabled-turkey-plant-workers-awarded-240m-years-abuse-flna6c9693069

[Northwoods]

on the flipside it also prevents employers from taking advantage of workers too. Think of a mentally disabled person being employed as a dishwasher in a restaurant for less money than what should be paid.

Or what happened in West Liberty, IA at a turkey plant 10 years ago. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/mentally-disabled-turkey-plant-workers-awarded-240m-years-abuse-flna6c9693069

I’m sure a means besides a minimum wage can be devised to protect such workers.