The national wave toward raising the statutory minimum wage to $15.00/hour is going to have major consequences for the ailing national network of workers' compensation programs. Not only is it going to increase benefits for injured workers that are calculated on wages, but it is also going increase much needed premium dollars for insurance companies whose premiums are based on payroll costs.
Workers at hamburger, pizza and other, mainly franchise, eateries are paid at near-minimum-wage levels, making them eligible for public assistance that totaled an average of $717 million a year in California from 2007 to 2011.
The condition of low-wage fry cooks and sandwich makers was the focus of a joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly labor committees Wednesday. The inquiry was held in the wake of a 60-city protest in August by fast-food employees. Protesters, backed by the Service Employees International Union, called for collective bargaining and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Simone Sonnier Jang, a mother of two who works at a Los Angeles McDonald's, said she wouldn't be able to survive financially without subsidized housing, day care and medical care for her children and cash assistance.
"Without that I wouldn't be able to pay rent, cover the cost of utilities," she said, "and I wouldn't be able to buy my own food."
The drain on the safety-net funding is alarming, said Assemblyman Roger Hernandez (D-West Covina). "The taxpayer should not have to subsidize one industry," he said.
The movement got a boost in September when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation raising the California minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour, in two steps, by 2016.
Much of the data...
The condition of low-wage fry cooks and sandwich makers was the focus of a joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly labor committees Wednesday. The inquiry was held in the wake of a 60-city protest in August by fast-food employees. Protesters, backed by the Service Employees International Union, called for collective bargaining and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Simone Sonnier Jang, a mother of two who works at a Los Angeles McDonald's, said she wouldn't be able to survive financially without subsidized housing, day care and medical care for her children and cash assistance.
"Without that I wouldn't be able to pay rent, cover the cost of utilities," she said, "and I wouldn't be able to buy my own food."
The drain on the safety-net funding is alarming, said Assemblyman Roger Hernandez (D-West Covina). "The taxpayer should not have to subsidize one industry," he said.
The movement got a boost in September when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation raising the California minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour, in two steps, by 2016.
Much of the data...
