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California's New War on Burger Bargains - Just what Golden State consumers need right now: Higher food prices.
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Ubiquitous
Aug 22, 2022, 9:06:11 AM8/22/22
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For everyone who’s been thinking that daily life in California has become
just too affordable lately, the Golden State’s Legislature is now cooking up
a solution. The political class that gave us condiment cancel culture now
aims to raise prices across the fast-food menu. Ronald Reagan famously called
inflation the thief of the middle class. In the state he once led,
legislators seem eager to serve as accomplices.
Jeanne Kuang reports this week for CalMatters:
California lawmakers this month are considering a fast food bill that
would significantly shift the relationship between restaurant workers
and the corporate chains whose products they sell.
If Assembly Bill 257 passes, California would be the first state to
assign labor liability to fast food corporations and not just their
individual franchise owners.
The bill’s provisions would let workers and the state name fast food
chains as a responsible party when workers claim minimum wage violations
or unpaid overtime at a franchise location...
It’s part of a larger bill pushed by unions to more strictly regulate
fast food businesses. AB 257 also includes a measure to create a state-
run, fast food sector council to set wage and labor standards across
the industry.
A new state bureaucracy with the single mission of policing wages at just one
segment of the restaurant business? A highly competitive industry has made
food bargains ubiquitous and somehow this is now intolerable to California
politicos. Like all bad policy ideas, this one is moving quickly in
Sacramento. Ms. Kuang adds:
Last week the bill survived the “suspense file” process, where
controversial bills often are quietly killed. After clearing the Senate
Appropriations Committee, the bill awaits a vote on the floor.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has not stated a position on the bill, but his
Department of Finance opposes it, saying it would create “ongoing
costs” and worsen delays in the state’s labor enforcement system.
If Mr. Newsom dreams of someday marketing himself to swing voters outside of
California, here’s a golden opportunity to start filling out that empty
section of his resume marked, “policy moderation.” He will need to say no to
big labor, which has largely failed to unionize the fast-food industry and
wants to see some political muscle applied. Ms. Kuang notes:
The Service Employees International Union and its Fight for $15
campaign led a series of strikes this summer to rally for the bill’s
passage, including an overnight rally at the Capitol this week.... SEIU
and Fight for $15 say the industry is rife with labor violations.
Not true, according to a study from the Employment Policies Institute, which
states that “no credible data have been presented to justify why the industry
should be singled out for special regulatory attention and oversight.” The
report adds:
Limited-service restaurants account for only 1.6 percent annually of
total average wage claims filed with the state Division of Labor
Standards Enforcement (DLSE) for the period 2017 through 2022. (This
is less than the industry’s 3.2 percent share of the overall employment
in California.)
One almost gets the feeling that the legislation is entirely concerned with
expanding the power of bureaucrats and union bosses. The former could be
especially costly as the new burger-joint bureaucracy begins to expand.
Kevin Smith reports for the Orange County Register:
The legislation would create a state-run council to negotiate wages,
hours and working conditions for California’s fast-food workers. And a
new report suggests those changes could push higher prices onto
consumers by as much as 20%.
The analysis — compiled by the UC Riverside Business Center for Economic
Forecasting and Development and paid for by the International Franchise
Association — comes as nearly 100 fast-food franchisees traveled
Wednesday, Aug. 17 to Sacramento to speak out against the impacts of
the bill, also known as the FAST Recovery Act...
The bill would require standards for minimum wages, maximum hours of
work and other working conditions fixed by the state-run council,
absent a valid collective bargaining agreement, and they would be
enforced by the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
The council would conduct a full review of those factors every three
years and would be required to hold public hearings every six months
where it could coordinate with various local agencies.
The bill additionally authorizes cities with a population of more than
200,000 to establish a food-sector council that could provide
recommendations to the state-run panel.
Burger-joint bureaucracies in every small city?
Politicians are always telling us they intervene to make services affordable
and available. Their interventions in health care and education often deliver
the opposite. Now look at an industry that has made meals cheap and
universally available and it is Sacramento’s favorite new target.
At last, Mr. Newsom has an opportunity to look reasonable. Will he seize the
day and save the affordable burgers?
--
Let's go Brandon!
just too affordable lately, the Golden State’s Legislature is now cooking up
a solution. The political class that gave us condiment cancel culture now
aims to raise prices across the fast-food menu. Ronald Reagan famously called
inflation the thief of the middle class. In the state he once led,
legislators seem eager to serve as accomplices.
Jeanne Kuang reports this week for CalMatters:
California lawmakers this month are considering a fast food bill that
would significantly shift the relationship between restaurant workers
and the corporate chains whose products they sell.
If Assembly Bill 257 passes, California would be the first state to
assign labor liability to fast food corporations and not just their
individual franchise owners.
The bill’s provisions would let workers and the state name fast food
chains as a responsible party when workers claim minimum wage violations
or unpaid overtime at a franchise location...
It’s part of a larger bill pushed by unions to more strictly regulate
fast food businesses. AB 257 also includes a measure to create a state-
run, fast food sector council to set wage and labor standards across
the industry.
A new state bureaucracy with the single mission of policing wages at just one
segment of the restaurant business? A highly competitive industry has made
food bargains ubiquitous and somehow this is now intolerable to California
politicos. Like all bad policy ideas, this one is moving quickly in
Sacramento. Ms. Kuang adds:
Last week the bill survived the “suspense file” process, where
controversial bills often are quietly killed. After clearing the Senate
Appropriations Committee, the bill awaits a vote on the floor.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has not stated a position on the bill, but his
Department of Finance opposes it, saying it would create “ongoing
costs” and worsen delays in the state’s labor enforcement system.
If Mr. Newsom dreams of someday marketing himself to swing voters outside of
California, here’s a golden opportunity to start filling out that empty
section of his resume marked, “policy moderation.” He will need to say no to
big labor, which has largely failed to unionize the fast-food industry and
wants to see some political muscle applied. Ms. Kuang notes:
The Service Employees International Union and its Fight for $15
campaign led a series of strikes this summer to rally for the bill’s
passage, including an overnight rally at the Capitol this week.... SEIU
and Fight for $15 say the industry is rife with labor violations.
Not true, according to a study from the Employment Policies Institute, which
states that “no credible data have been presented to justify why the industry
should be singled out for special regulatory attention and oversight.” The
report adds:
Limited-service restaurants account for only 1.6 percent annually of
total average wage claims filed with the state Division of Labor
Standards Enforcement (DLSE) for the period 2017 through 2022. (This
is less than the industry’s 3.2 percent share of the overall employment
in California.)
One almost gets the feeling that the legislation is entirely concerned with
expanding the power of bureaucrats and union bosses. The former could be
especially costly as the new burger-joint bureaucracy begins to expand.
Kevin Smith reports for the Orange County Register:
The legislation would create a state-run council to negotiate wages,
hours and working conditions for California’s fast-food workers. And a
new report suggests those changes could push higher prices onto
consumers by as much as 20%.
The analysis — compiled by the UC Riverside Business Center for Economic
Forecasting and Development and paid for by the International Franchise
Association — comes as nearly 100 fast-food franchisees traveled
Wednesday, Aug. 17 to Sacramento to speak out against the impacts of
the bill, also known as the FAST Recovery Act...
The bill would require standards for minimum wages, maximum hours of
work and other working conditions fixed by the state-run council,
absent a valid collective bargaining agreement, and they would be
enforced by the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
The council would conduct a full review of those factors every three
years and would be required to hold public hearings every six months
where it could coordinate with various local agencies.
The bill additionally authorizes cities with a population of more than
200,000 to establish a food-sector council that could provide
recommendations to the state-run panel.
Burger-joint bureaucracies in every small city?
Politicians are always telling us they intervene to make services affordable
and available. Their interventions in health care and education often deliver
the opposite. Now look at an industry that has made meals cheap and
universally available and it is Sacramento’s favorite new target.
At last, Mr. Newsom has an opportunity to look reasonable. Will he seize the
day and save the affordable burgers?
--
Let's go Brandon!
Siri Cruise
Aug 22, 2022, 11:03:18 AM8/22/22
to
In article <20220819-1...@news.giganews.com>,
stitute/
The Employment Policies Institute focuses on labor issues and,
especially, the debate over the minimum and living wages. Its
studies nearly all conclude that raising the minimum wage would
be detrimental to low-income workers and to the economy
generally. The group further maintains that the łliving wage
campaign˛ amounts to łan organized effort to force employees to
inject a welfare mentality into the workplace.˛ The name and
acronym of the group are very similar to those of the much older,
more liberal Economic Policy Institute, but its ideology couldnąt
be more different.
--
:-<> Siri Seal of Disavowal #000-001. Disavowed. Denied. Deleted. @
'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' /|\
Discordia: not just a religion but also a parody. This post / \
I am an Andrea Chen sockpuppet. insults Islam. Mohammed
Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
> Not true, according to a study from the Employment Policies Institute, which
https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/resource/employment-policies-in
> Not true, according to a study from the Employment Policies Institute, which
stitute/
The Employment Policies Institute focuses on labor issues and,
especially, the debate over the minimum and living wages. Its
studies nearly all conclude that raising the minimum wage would
be detrimental to low-income workers and to the economy
generally. The group further maintains that the łliving wage
campaign˛ amounts to łan organized effort to force employees to
inject a welfare mentality into the workplace.˛ The name and
acronym of the group are very similar to those of the much older,
more liberal Economic Policy Institute, but its ideology couldnąt
be more different.
--
:-<> Siri Seal of Disavowal #000-001. Disavowed. Denied. Deleted. @
'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' /|\
Discordia: not just a religion but also a parody. This post / \
I am an Andrea Chen sockpuppet. insults Islam. Mohammed
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