...for those who don't lose their jobs.
From The Daily Upside, September 6:
Fast Food Workers Score Major Wage Win in CaliforniaCalifornia passes major fast food labor reform.
California Governor Gavin Newsom observed the Labor Day holiday by signing a bill that raises the minimum wage to $22 an hour for workers at major fast food chains.
It’s a victory for workers – and quite possibly for robots, too, as the industry shovels money into technology to avoid unhappy meal price hikes.
SuperSized Salaries
California has long been on the cutting edge of the minimum wage debate. In January, it raised the statewide minimum wage to $14 an hour for companies with 25 or fewer employees and a nation-leading $15 an hour for companies with 26 or more employees — meaning California’s line cooks were making McDouble the federally-mandated $7.25-an-hour earned by counterparts in states like Alabama, Idaho, and Kentucky.The new Fast Act will deliver another salary bump to a significant portion of service workers, with the law applying to chains with over 100 locations starting next year. Still, many fear the rising cost of labor will be passed on to the consumer; it will definitely accelerate the shift toward automation....
....MUCH MORE
I'm not thinking the automation so much as the fact the restaurants may just be priced out of reach of their customers, meaning slowed expansion or even outright closures.
UPDATE—"The New California Fast Food Law Is About Much More Than Just Wages"
Freight Rates Take a Breather in Major Inflationary Relief
