Fast food Minimum wage raise impacts Central Valley workers and customers

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A caller authorities instrumentality is raising the wages of fast-food workers.

Starting Monday, thousands of employees, galore astatine ample fast-food chains, volition marque astatine slightest $20 an hour.

"500,000 workers crossed the authorities of California are astir to get a important wage due to the fact that the labour question is making groundbreaking investments successful our policy," Central Labor Council Executive Director Dillon Savory told Action News.

Workers astatine astir fast-food chains with 60 oregon much locations saw their minimum wage spell from $16 to $20 an hour. It is an summation Savory says could marque each the difference.

"...Being capable to conscionable get that 1 measurement up," Savory said. "Maybe enactment immoderate wealth distant for their kids for college. It's each astir getting radical supra the poorness line, and past they tin commencement reasoning astir prosperity for their families."

While labour groups and employees applaud the determination by Sacramento, edifice owners person concerns.

Kris Stuebner is the enforcement vice president of the Jem Restaurant Management Corporation. His radical runs 15 KFCs successful the Fresno country -- and 42 Wendy's passim Central California.

Stuebner says the caller minimum wage volition outgo Jem much than $20 an hour.

"It's $20, positive each of our worker's comp volition spell up due to the fact that it's based connected your payroll dollars," Stuebner said. "The payroll taxation dollars we wage volition spell up. It's much than conscionable $20."

With higher labour costs, immoderate nationalist chains already accidental they program to rise paper prices.

ABC News reports that McDonald's and Chipotle volition rise their prices, passing on astatine slightest immoderate of their higher operating costs straight to customers astatine the register.

But for the KFCs and Wendy's successful the Valley, Stuebner says his radical volition look to chopped costs earlier expanding prices.

"Can I crook my lights off? Can I not person the aerial conditioning connected close now? Can I crook it connected later? That's things that we're looking astatine close now," Stuebner said. "Where tin we prevention to assistance offset those costs arsenic well?"

One labour assembly told Action News it expects determination volition soon beryllium a propulsion for $25 an hour.

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