California is poised for a significant shift in its labor landscape as the state’s fast-food workers are set to receive a minimum wage of $20 per hour starting Monday.
This legislative move aims to provide financial security to a profession historically characterized by low pay. However, it also raises concerns about potential price hikes in a state already grappling with a high cost of living.
The impact of this wage increase is already being felt across the state, with reports emerging of small businesses, such as Fosters Freeze in Lemoore, facing dire consequences.
Monica Navarro, a former assistant general manager at Fosters Freeze, expressed her shock and frustration at the abrupt closure of the establishment, citing the inability to absorb the wage hike as the primary reason.
“It would have been nice to have a notice, so we could go get some applications [out], I could prepare them,” she said about having to let workers go. “The best I can do is honestly give them some references.”
Loren Wright, the owner of Fosters Freeze, echoed Navarro’s sentiments, emphasizing that the decision to close was a reluctant one driven by the financial strain imposed by the new minimum wage law.
In a text message sent to the media, Wright wrote, “Just couldn’t survive with mandated wage increases.”
“I tried to the end to try to figure out a way to make it work,” the text added. “Last thing I ever wanted was to close down. By Friday night I knew I was most likely not gonna be able to stay open but I didn’t want to ruin their Easter Sunday. Small businesses can’t survive a 120% plus min wage increase over the last 10 years.”
“We are all more broke than we were 10 years ago its clear raising min wage isn’t helping… I am sad to see my employees off, and sad to see lemoore off. This location has been in business for 35+ years and lemoore has been such a good place.”
The closure left employees like Navarro and her colleagues blindsided and uncertain about their future job prospects, Fox Business reports.
“Two of my coworkers were actually going in to clock-in for the morning. And right after that, that’s when I got a phone call that we were closing. So they found out right as they were about to clock-in for the day,” Navarro recalled.
“We had gotten a text in the group chat that we were shutting down, and I completely thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” one of Navarro’s colleagues told local Fox affiliate KMPH.
Navarro, speaking about a conversation she had with management and Fosters Freeze’s owner, said blame was casted “on the minimum wage increase.”
“I can see their intentions with increasing the minimum wage, thinking that it will attract more people,” the ex-manager said, “but I honestly don’t think it will work. This is not the first business that’s closing. There’s already a few local businesses for me that are closing, so I feel like this is just only the beginning.”
“From the people that I spoke to, my employees, we would have rather stayed at the wage that we did have before, just because now we don’t have a job,” Navarro added. “And those who are still working in the areas around us that went up to $20 an hour, they got their hours severely cut. And it’s a lot less people working on shifts. So their jobs got a lot more difficult.”
The post Ex-Manager Shares Tragic Recap Of Sudden Restaurant Closure Following California’s Upped Minimum Wage appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: Jordyn M.
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