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America’s Highest Minimum Wage Sparks Fight in Small California City
Restaurants in Emeryville say they can’t keep raising prices, but workers say $16.30 an hour is barely enough in Bay Area
EMERYVILLE, Calif.—The economy is booming in the Bay Area, but at Patatas Neighborhood Kitchen, located in this small city just north of Oakland, owner Marcos Quezada recently eliminated the dinner shift and laid off six of his 10 workers.
He struggled with the decision but felt he had no choice after Emeryville increased its hourly minimum wage in July from $15 to $16.30, the highest in the U.S. “I just didn’t see how I was going to survive it,” said Mr. Quezada, who opened the eatery in 2017.
“We may have the highest minimum wage, but I don’t think the people in Emeryville will feel like paying the highest prices in the country," said Erik Hansen, owner of Moomie’s, who is deciding whether to raise sandwich prices by as much as $1.50 or lay off one of his three employees.
People over there are mostly in tech, venture capital funding etc. etc. all filthy rich making $600,000 upwards as a couple ($300k each), they can afford to pay $50 for a salad if it comes down to it. These people are buying $2-3 million homes like it's nothing and then complaining about paying workers $16/hr? It's an expensive area.. the minimum wage as well as cost of products should reflect it.
I know someone who works at Google, with his stock compensation, base and bonus etc. he makes $400,000 just by himself, his wife makes around $220K as well, so $650k household income. And these are the people going out to eat and complaining about $15 salad.
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Those little local restaurants with just 3 or 10 employees are not going to make it on tech workers only, especially being in a more industrial area. They need the patronage from the service and retail industry workers to survive and those people cannot afford $15 salad. These are not "destination" restaurants, and the locals (Emeryville) only have a median family income of $69,000.
People over there are mostly in tech, venture capital funding etc. etc. all filthy rich making $600,000 upwards as a couple ($300k each), they can afford to pay $50 for a salad if it comes down to it. These people are buying $2-3 million homes like it's nothing and then complaining about paying workers $16/hr? It's an expensive area.. the minimum wage as well as cost of products should reflect it.
I know someone who works at Google, with his stock compensation, base and bonus etc. he makes $400,000 just by himself, his wife makes around $220K as well, so $650k household income. And these are the people going out to eat and complaining about $15 salad.
According to CompTIA there are approximately 756,000 combined tech jobs between the north and south tech hubs and more than 7 million people. Ergo most people in the area are not in tech.
No $15 salads, nope nope. I won't even go above $10.
Also, I had to look at a map for Emeryville since I've never heard of it... it's a very small area with a population of only 10k. I feel like the obvious answer is to... move. It's not SF, so I'd assume that if you work in Emeryville, it's an easier commute from elsewhere. Let the tech workers have the place and see what happens. The European model, to my knowledge, is that the rich seem to live in the city center, and it gradually lowers in social economic status as you get away from the core. We don't seem to do that, or in the very least do it well, in America. Probably a first step would be to focus on our infrastructure and zoning to create more sustainable cities.
I've seen a lot of restaurants close, raise their prices, or both over here in NYC after the $15 min wage. I have a feeling it's more complex equation than people are giving credit to and other factors are being ignored like really really high commercial rental costs.
America’s Highest Minimum Wage Sparks Fight in Small California City
Restaurants in Emeryville say they can’t keep raising prices, but workers say $16.30 an hour is barely enough in Bay Area
EMERYVILLE, Calif.—The economy is booming in the Bay Area, but at Patatas Neighborhood Kitchen, located in this small city just north of Oakland, owner Marcos Quezada recently eliminated the dinner shift and laid off six of his 10 workers.
He struggled with the decision but felt he had no choice after Emeryville increased its hourly minimum wage in July from $15 to $16.30, the highest in the U.S. “I just didn’t see how I was going to survive it,” said Mr. Quezada, who opened the eatery in 2017.
“We may have the highest minimum wage, but I don’t think the people in Emeryville will feel like paying the highest prices in the country," said Erik Hansen, owner of Moomie’s, who is deciding whether to raise sandwich prices by as much as $1.50 or lay off one of his three employees.
So if I do the math, he only sells on average 3 sandwiches per hour. He should probably not be in business if that is all he is selling.
Who actually makes minimum wage? (This is not a sarcastic question.) I ask because I see "For Hire" signs all over the area (DC Metro) saying the starting salary is $12+. And this is for fast food places. Now I always chalked it up to DC being a very high cost of living area.
But I just learned yesterday that my 15 year old nephew, in suburban Charleston, SC (actual town ranks as equal to the average cost of living in the US) just walked into a burger joint - with zero experience in ANY job) and got a position for $9.50/ hour. So if he is making more than minimum wage, who isn't?
People over there are mostly in tech, venture capital funding etc. etc. all filthy rich making $600,000 upwards as a couple ($300k each), they can afford to pay $50 for a salad if it comes down to it.
I cannot imagine how strong the weed is you're smoking to believe 600k household income is representative of the residents of that city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by k374
I know someone who works at Google, with his stock compensation, base and bonus etc. he makes $400,000 just by himself, his wife makes around $220K as well, so $650k household income. And these are the people going out to eat and complaining about $15 salad.
I think the odds of you knowing someone who has shared with you his exact income across all sources as well as that of his wife is about 0%. You're making stuff up, and you know it.
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