California fast food workers will be paid at least $20 per hour next year under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

When it takes effect on April 1, fast food workers in the state will have among the highest minimum wages in the country, according to data compiled by the University of California-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. The state’s minimum wage for all other workers is at $15.50 per hour and is already among the highest in the nation.

Newsom’s signature on Thursday reflects the power and influence of labor unions in the nation’s most populous state, which have worked to organize fast food workers in an attempt to improve their wages and working conditions.

  • Aussiemandeus
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    -411 year ago

    So that would put it at 31 Aud dollars or so.

    There a trades that take 4 year apprenticeships in Australia that are paid less than this or very close too.

    Fast food joints shouldn’t be a place to build a career, they’re a place for students etc to work.

    If you want high living wages go to school or get a trade, minimum effort jobs are not for grown adults.

    • iAmTheTot
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      231 year ago

      Fast food joints shouldn’t be a place to build a career, they’re a place for students etc to work.

      Soooo who exactly is going to serve lunch when school is in session?

    • @[email protected]
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      231 year ago

      What an incredibly bad and ignorant take. If you can make more money flipping burgers, trades will have no choice but to raise their wages to compete. Or, quit your job and go flip burgers if that’s a better deal.

      Fast food places are so fundamental as a stepping stone to building a career and to say only children who are exploited should be working there only says you are ok exploiting children.

      If someone is working to serve you your food, they deserve a living wage.

        • @[email protected]
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          111 year ago

          Ok here’s a revised paragraph for you:

          Fast food places are so fundamental as a stepping stone to building a career and to say only young adults who are exploited should be working there only says you are ok exploiting young adults.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Then never in your life go to a fast food joint at 10 am on a Tuesday.

      In terms of pure dollar amount, it should by adjusted by PPP. It should be a wage to live off of. I’m in engineering, a few years into my career, I am well paid but I should be paid more, relative to CoL. I should be doing very well even if I have a family not doing well because I don’t have one.

      • @canthidium
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        211 year ago

        That’s the thing people always miss. It’s not that the fast food workers getting $20 is high, it’s that every profession should be getting paid more. Wages across the board are stagnant.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 year ago

          …unless you’re a CEO. Wages, especially minimum, have been stagnant to declining for decades, meanwhile CEO and c-level pay is up like 900x. Whatever this raise costs in aggregate, I will nearly guarantee you can probably look to increase in compensation package for like 10 people in CA at most who are getting the same amount next year.

          • @canthidium
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            11 year ago

            Yes, I should have more clear. I was speaking specifically about the workers, not executives.

            • @[email protected]
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              21 year ago

              oh yeah, that’s not a clapback, just furthering your point that if you think the problem is the guy who still probably can barely pay their rent, you’re woefully ignorant.

              • @canthidium
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                21 year ago

                Oh yes, very much agreed. It’s infuriating.

    • @bluestribute
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      81 year ago

      If they’re meant for students than you wouldn’t be mad if they were closed during the day would you? Since that’s when students are in school and all.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      Fast food joints shouldn’t be a place to build a career, they’re a place for students etc to work.

      This is why you can’t buy fast food during school hours. Seriously, stop with this bootlicking, boomer classist bullshit myth. All work deserves dignity and a living wage. Aside from that, I will near guarantee that you apply this across the industry, you’ve just closed about 85% of restaurants and hospitality (retail, etc) as most of the people working there are not students. Also, it’s NOT easy work which is another bullshit line. It’s like that old trope about the plumber that comes out and twists one knob and the guy that called them says “you only twisted one knob! Why should I pay you $300?” and the plumber says “because I knew which knob to twist.” Fast food and this type of work is a lot like that, except we don’t pay them well enough for most to stay long enough to know which knob.

      Tbh, if fast food employees were paid their worth, there is a decent chance that customer cost would go down because they’d usually be closer to max efficiency and the restaurant would spend less money on things like lawsuits and fines and such because the “manager” had more than 10 minutes of experience and training before promotion.