It was no April Fool’s prank on April 1st of this year when fast-food workers’ wages increased to $20 an hour.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill increasing the minimum wage for fast-food workers in restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, Chipotle, and more.
This change provides a much-needed boost to the industry to improve people’s lives for many minimum wage workers.
While this seemed great, there are some downsides. There have been noticeable changes at my workplace before the law took effect, like charging more for food and drinks. For example, the price of drinks used to be $1.09 and kept increasing slightly by a couple of cents, and currently, it is at $1.85, and for a McChicken it is $ 2.49, but it used to be a dollar menu item. Now the dollar menu is not a thing anymore at McDonald´s; the only thing that is less than a dollar is the senior drinks which cost 97¢. One of our ongoing deals is the BOGO (Buy one get one $1) for the McChickens, 4-piece nuggets, hash browns, sausage McMuffins, burritos, and small fries.
McDonald’s has gotten a little more strict with handing out sauces. We were able to give out two sauces for free before charging 25¢ for extra ones. It has always been a thing to charge them for more sauces, but where I work they have become a bit strict. Usually for a 4-6 piece nugget we only give out one sauce. For a 10-piece nugget, we give 2 sauces, for 20-piece nuggets it comes with 3 sauces, and with a 40-piece it comes with a total of 6. But with people still asking for more than they already have, we have to charge them 25¢ for each sauce.
Before the law took place at my workplace everyone had a good amount of hours they worked per week. My hours were 20 a week, so every two weeks I would work 40 hours and get paid around $620. But since the new law has taken place it has cut mine and many of my coworker’s hours. Now that the law has taken effect, my hours have been reduced by 5, so I work 15 hours per week. Every two weeks I work 30 hours but with the new minimum wage of $20 per hour, I still get almost the same amount I did when I was getting paid $16 an hour. Now I get paid 10 dollars less and make $610 every check.
As a result of hours being cut from the new minimum wage, they have sent workers home early. I have been sent home 2 hours early from my 7-hour shift when I hit my 5-hour mark. But it only happened once since the law has taken effect. Co-workers have also been sent home early from their 5-hour shift to a 3-hour shift. When it’s a normal day at work, they send 1 or 2 workers home early. This means that to lower labor for work, they need to send workers back home to help the owner save up.
Before the minimum wage increase, two managers and a worker left the fast-food scene. This has caused the main manager to hire three people during the pay increase, to help keep the same schedules that everyone worked. However, any applicants who apply for the job have had difficulty getting hired because of the number of people wanting to work because of the minimum wage pay increase.
This minimum wage pay increase has been a positive thing for my coworkers because it has helped them make more money. But some of them, including me, have gotten our hours reduced. This has caused some of my coworkers to get less money but a similar amount on checks. If the hours hadn’t changed since the new pay minimum wage the checks would have made a huge difference.
A livable wage is what any individual must earn to support themselves and their families based on their situations. For my full time coworkers they aren’t able to meet the average of a ¨Livable Wage¨. The average for 1 adult and no children should be $27 per hour, and two adults with no children working should be $36 per hour, and for both adults with no children working is $18 per hour. So, for people who have bills to pay, this is a step in the right direction, and for high school students without those worries, it’s nice. The problem for both is that while the hourly wage is up, it doesn’t help as much when the establishment cuts the employees’ hours.
Overall, this new pay increase has been a good thing for fast-food employees, but it doesn’t do enough for workers who need to make a livable wage.
