Ca Min Wage Bill Dream Or Nightmare?

Social justice to be shoved down California fast-food workers’ throats by pols even when they have no beef with already being among nation’s highest paid & teen burger flippers might be priced out of jobs?

That’s pretty much the argument made by WSJ’s Jason Riley who “confesses” he worked at Wendy’s “many summers ago” to get a head start in life. “I was young and I needed the money. I was not proud of myself and carefully chose a location well outside of town to ensure that no one I knew would ever see me working there. I was living a double life. Not even my closest friends knew that a burger flipper was among them.” Riley says he’d go on to get other such “starter” jobs, e.g., as a dishwasher at an Italian restaurant, as a delivery truck driver for Frito-Lay (btw: I did same for Butternut Bread], and a gas station attendant. Besides teaching him how to be a good worker, Riley recalls, “What these jobs also had in common is that the starting pay was at, or just above, minimum wage.”

Well, fast forward to Monday, when state lawmakers in California, where the minimum wage is already $15 an hour, passed legislation that raises it to $22 for fast-food workers, at least, at the biggest chains. The bill would even create a state commission to determine not only the pay but hours and working conditions in their employers’ stores. “Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t said whether he’ll sign it into law and has until Sept. 30 to do so.” The businesses, incl likes of McDonald are steamed. “But labor leaders & progressive activists, who know that what starts in California often doesn’t stay there, are hoping the bill will serve as a model nationwide.” Concluded ex-burger flipper Riley: “Heaven help us.”

Davd Soul