Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a state where free enterprise ruled the day, and the government did not feel a necessity to intrude in every aspect of our lives?
Do not the Democrats who rule Sacramento realize that their hatred of free enterprise and their continued attacks on business is what has transformed California into such an expensive and undesirable place to live?
A $20 minimum wage for fast food workers is ridiculous and unfair on so many levels. So now the guy who flips burgers at Jack-In-The-Box is entitled to $20 while the guy who does physical labor in a factory or warehouse, sorting packages or operating complex machinery, is only entitled to $16. Makes no sense.
If they were truly determined to raise the minimum wage to $20, which may in fact be their plan, it should have been across the board and applied equally to all workers.
People like Gavin Newsom are simply out of touch with reality. Perhaps he is too busy eating at the French Laundry to patronize his local McDonalds or Taco Bell. If he patronized these establishments, he would realize that people eat there for two reasons, because the food is fast and the food is cheap. Once the food isn’t fast and cheap anymore, people won’t eat there, or won’t eat there as often.
Many franchise operators are barely making a living as it is. Many are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Many are small business operators who own only a single location or a couple of locations. This new law may put some of them out of business. The more successful franchises will survive by increasing prices, cutting worker’s hours, or by automating wherever possible.
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I recently visited a McDonalds that did not have any employees taking orders. You had to order your food and pay at a kiosk and were called when your food was ready. If you weren’t smart enough to operate the kiosk you were out of luck until the manager could come to assist you. Automating some job functions may be an option for some of the larger, more successful franchisees, but may be too expensive for the small operator who only owns one restaurant.
It is with a sense of nostalgia that I recall working in a fast-food place in the mid-1970’s when I was a high school kid. I started at $1.35 an hour, which was the minimum wage at the time. During my tenure there, I got a couple of raises and ended up managing the evening shift. We were all in our teens, and we had lots of fun. I learned the value of work and I learned how to save some money. Of course, I was living at home with my parents at the time. I never envisioned this job as a career, it was simply a stepping-stone to something better.
Michael Drayer is a resident of Chino Hills.
