California’s Democrat Governor Exempted His Restaurant From The State’s $20 Minimum Wage – Here’s How He Did It (Screenshots)
Republicans are claiming that California’s new $20 fast food minimum wage will prompt restaurants to simply replace workers with self-checkouts and ‘robot cooks.’
Starting Monday a new law kicked in in the Golden State requiring at least $20 an hour wages for workers at fast food chains, pay that could amount to a 25 percent raise for many.
The statewide minimum wage is currently $16 hour, though many of the state’s larger cities have a minimum that goes beyond that.
What about slow-food workers? Especially ones who work at a restaurant chain connected to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom’s political critics — not the dining kind — pointed out the irony of a help wanted ad for a $16-an-hour busser job at a Lake Tahoe area cafe the governor founded that’s part of a hospitality group now run by his sister.
PlumpJack Cafe in the Lake Tahoe community of Olympic Valley, which posted the job ad last month for the restaurant and bar that opened in 1995, wouldn’t be subject to the state’s $20 fast-food minimum wage, which took effect April 1 for some 3,000 franchise restaurants belonging to chains with 60 or more locations nationally.
“I wonder why Gavin Newsom’s food businesses don’t pay $20/hour?” Assemblyman Joe Patterson, a Rocklin Republican, posted Tuesday on X. “It’s very, very expensive to live there… but he doesn’t do as he tells others and doesn’t pay a living wage.”
How did the billionaire boys club governor do this? He had it written right into AB 1228 by Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Los Angeles):
“Fast food restaurant” shall not include an establishment that on September 15, 2023, operates a bakery that produces for sale on the establishment’s premises bread, as defined under Part 136 of Subchapter B of Chapter I of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, so long as it continues to operate such a bakery. This exemption applies only where the establishment produces for sale bread as a stand-alone menu item, and does not apply if the bread is available for sale solely as part of another menu item. (emphasis the Globe)
Here is the actual section AB 1228:
Billionaire Greg Flynn, who made his fortune running one of the world’s largest restaurant franchise operations, is getting a new boost from sourdough loaves and brioche buns.
That’s because a California law that’s about to raise the state minimum wage at fast-food spots to $20 an hour from $16 offers an unusual exemption for chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item.
Governor Gavin Newsom pushed for that break, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the main beneficiaries is Flynn, a longtime Newsom donor whose California holdings include two dozen Panera Bread locations.
Give a donation, get an exemption? This is what corruption in plain sight looks like.
Bloomberg News reported that Flynn attended the same high school as Newsom, and has been involved in various business dealings with Gov. Newsom.
Flynn has also contributed at least $164,800 to Newsom’s political campaigns, the New York Post reported.
“In 2014, Flynn, who is the largest franchisee in the US with thousands of brands including Applebee’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s, acquired a Napa Valley resort that was managed by Newsom’s hospitality firm, according to disclosure forms.”
“Flynn has a net worth valued at $1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has donated at least $164,800 to Newsom’s campaigns.”
It pays to have friends in high places.
And it pays to have billionaire friends donate to your political campaigns.
But what about Flynn’s Panera employees – how long will they be content making $16.00 per hour while their friends at McDonald’s and Taco Bell are making $20.00 per hour?
OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author’s opinion
Reminder: The purpose of the articles that you will find on this website, are to EDUCATE, not to disinform or grow hate and anger!
Bruce Hoenshell is a military historian, he is one of the most prolific conservative writers today, often churning out multiple columns per week. His writings tend to focus on international themes, modern warfare. Style Sampling: “ It is not that we need social networking and Internet searches more than food and fuel, but rather that we have the impression that cool zillionaires in flip-flops are good while uncool ones in wingtips are quite bad.”
Gavin Newsome is a slimy lying, cheating, crooked snake oil salesman. If I came upon him on fire my only regret would be that I didn’t have any marshmallows with me.
SOME JOBS WERE NEVER MADE TO BE LIFE LONG, PAPPER ROUTS, DISH WASHER, BURGER FLIPPER, AND OTHER TYPE JOB YEARS AGO, THEY WERE TO HELP YOUNG FOLKS DEVELOPE A RESPECT FOR WORKING PROVIDING SOME MODIST INCOME , NOW WANT 20 BUCKS OR MORE WHEN I WENT TO HS A BURGER COST ONLY 90 CENTS IF THEY MADE TO KMAY IT WOULD DROP TO 30 CENTS EACH. WAGES WERE ABOUT 1.50 PER HOUR, PENDING ON SCHEDULE LIKE $ 60/WEEK, BUT DUE TO INCOMPENANT LEADERSHIP INFLATION, BOUNCED IT UP. PLUS NOT ENJOUGH TAXES COLLECTED MOVE EVERY ONE TO A HIGHER PAY SCALE MEANS TAX BASE GOES UP TOO.
Democrats love a double standard!
His aunt, Nancy Pelosi, did the same thing years ago. Starkist Tuna headquarters are in her district, San Francisco. When the federal minimum wage jumped, she made their operations in American Samoa exempt.