California officials plan to ask for another hike to the state’s controversial $20 minimum wage for fast food workers – despite the new law being blamed for higher menu prices and restaurant closings since it went into effect in April.
Members of the California Food Council, which lobbied successfully for the pay hike, are planning to seek an additional 3.5% raise when they meet at the end of the month, according to Restaurant Business.
The council was created by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose name has been floated as a possible replacement for Joe Biden if the aging president drops his bid for reelection.
The state’s minimum wage law mandates that any quick service restaurant with at least 60 branches operating nationwide must pay its employees $20 per hour — up from $16 an hour previously.
“The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing repeatedly and hoping for a different result,” Tom Manzo, president of CABIA, the California Business and Industrial Alliance, told The Post on Thursday.
“California has already killed thousands of fast food jobs with its misguided wage mandates, and this new union proposal will only do more damage.”
The frequent critic of the law added, “If Gavin Newsom isn’t too busy measuring the drapes at the White House, he should tell his fast food board to trash this latest idea.”
A report by Kalinowski Equity Research found that fast food giants McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Chipotle, Starbucks and Taco Bell raised their menu prices by as much as 8% before the new minimum wage law kicked in April 1.
Franchise chains such as Rubio’s Coastal Grill and Fosters Freeze have since shut down locations — with the rising cost of doing business cited as the reason.
The California Fast Food Workers Union, which is affiliated with the Service Employers International Union (SEIU), holds four of the nine seats on the Fast Food Council.
Four other seats are held by franchise owners or lawyers representing popular chains El Pollo Loco, Taco Bell, Arby’s, Wendy’s and Krispy Kreme in the state.
The swing vote that could decide the matter is council chair Nicholas Hardeman, chief of staff for California Senate President pro Tempore Emeritus Toni G. Atkins.
Atkins, a Democrat from the San Diego area, is running for governor in 2026 to replace the term-limited Newsom.
The Post has sought comment from Hardeman.
In March, the union already declared its intention to seek the additional 3.5% hike, which would bump minimum pay to $20.70 an hour. If adopted, it would go into effect on Jan. 1.
The union also plans to push for additional changes, including limits on when fast food workers can be fired and a minimum number of hours an employer has to provide employees.
If the council approves the wage hike, it would expand the number of employees in managerial positions who are eligible to receive time-and-a-half overtime pay.
By law, salaried employees in California are entitled to overtime if their compensation equals less than double the hourly minimum wage in their field.
A salaried worker at a fast food restaurant earning less than $87,000 annually would thus be entitled to overtime if another wage hike is enacted.
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