(DailyVantage.com) – California’s recent increase in the state’s minimum wage to $20 per hour caused a Leemoore business to close its doors to the surprise of its staff.
The business in question is Foster’s Freeze, a fast-food soft-serve restaurant that couldn’t afford the new mandated minimum wage, according to several members of management who lost their positions within the business. Employees found out about the closure on the same day California instituted the new minimum wage, but many believed it wasn’t true until they arrived and found the store shut down.
Foster’s Freeze is one of many California businesses that have closed due to the new minimum wage. Several local companies have closed their doors following Newsom’s signing of the new wage mandate, causing some economic experts to speculate that the required minimum wage would devastate California’s economy. Other businesses, including fast-food chains with stores throughout the United States, have resorted to layoffs to prevent losing too much money from the new wage.
Other businesses have adopted different operating methods, such as cutting employees’ hours or using machines to automate production and lower total costs, causing renewed concerns about automation taking American jobs. Fast-food restaurants have also begun raising the prices of their menu items to offset the loss in profit from paying employees the new wage. While local California businesses argued against the minimum wage hike, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill and stated the law was a victory for employees within the state.
Foster’s Freeze’s former employees disagree with Newsom and say they’d rather have their old jobs back than live in the state that imposed a costly new minimum wage. Among the employees criticizing the new salary is Monica Navarro, a former member of management who worked at the soft-serve business’s Leemoore location. Navarro said she spoke with her fellow employees about the wage increase and that most agreed they’d rather have their jobs than a mandated minimum wage.
Navarro also said she knows of other businesses in the area that have reduced employee hours to offset expenses from the minimum wage hike. During her interview with Fox Business, Navarro highlighted that other companies have closed down due to California’s new wage requirements, causing concern from economic experts. Despite Navarro’s personal experience of losing her job and various local businesses closing down, Governor Gavin Newsom supports the measure, with other Democratic lawmakers expressing their desire to make California’s new wage the national standard.
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