Have you noticed that the major fast food joints have $5 meal deals? Amazon is going to sell private label food, most under $5. Go to a burgher joint and sme burgers are $8.00 Have you seen the lack of service at these places—and the inability for the workers to correctly take orders? Between inflation, government mandated wages and benefits, prices are up, jobs are down and hours of work in fast food joints are also down.
“Except, that is, independent franchised restaurant owners — the ones who have to pay the raises, who said they were left out of the dealmaking. Now, they’re organizing.
In person and over Zoom, franchise owners packed a meeting of the state’s new fast food council on Wednesday, urging it not to adopt any further increases in the industry’s minimum wage after the April hike from $16 to $20 for limited-service restaurants — a 25% increase. Fast food workers are seeking an inflationary adjustment for 2025.
The restaurant owners said since the wage hike, they’ve cut back hours, slowed growth and reduced certain benefits. Price increases, they said, have also driven a decrease in sales. Several were accompanied by managers and employees who also spoke against further wage increases. “
The very people who risked they money to build a business were not allowed to participate in the negotiations that would, in the end, run their businesses. This is how Democracy ends.
California fast food restaurants strike back
by Lynn La, CalMatters, 9/12/24
When California lawmakers, Gov. Gavin Newsom, fast food corporations and the Service Employees International Union announced an agreement to raise fast food workers’ wages, all sides seemed to accept the deal.
Except, that is, independent franchised restaurant owners — the ones who have to pay the raises, who said they were left out of the dealmaking. Now, they’re organizing.
In person and over Zoom, franchise owners packed a meeting of the state’s new fast food council on Wednesday, urging it not to adopt any further increases in the industry’s minimum wage after the April hike from $16 to $20 for limited-service restaurants — a 25% increase. Fast food workers are seeking an inflationary adjustment for 2025.
The restaurant owners said since the wage hike, they’ve cut back hours, slowed growth and reduced certain benefits. Price increases, they said, have also driven a decrease in sales. Several were accompanied by managers and employees who also spoke against further wage increases.
The franchise owners sought to relate their experiences to those of their workers, highlighting one dynamic that has occasionally surfaced during years of political battles over fast food wages: As lawmakers and unions pushed the regulation to benefit a low-wage workforce that is predominantly Latino and Black, business groups have sought to display their own diversity. Many of the restaurateurs at Wednesday’s hearing said they were immigrants, with some having arrived in the U.S. as refugees. Some had started out themselves as fast food workers and praised the franchise model as a bridge to minority business ownership.
The testimony is sure to further inflame debate around the state’s fast food law, which industry groups and Republicans have lambasted Newsom for.
The two sides have spent months issuing competing press releases about whether fast food jobs have grown or declined in California. The reality, according to seasonally-adjusted federal employment data, is that it’s been basically flat for about a year.
The hourly wage increase is not the only contributor to price increases and lost revenue for the investors. It is economics 101. If the investors do not get the rate of return on their investment from a fast food restaurant franchise, they will take their money and find new investments. The investors can’t control the price of food and supplies, utilities, insurance and taxes. The can directly affect wages.