SoylentNews

requerdanos [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Seattle Times reports: [seattletimes.com]

SAN FRANCISCO -- [At] Souvla, a Greek restaurant with a devoted following... there are no servers to wait on you here, or at the two other San Francisco locations that Souvla has added — or, increasingly, at other popular restaurants that have opened in the past two years.
[...]
Commercial rents have gone up. Labor costs have soared. And restaurant workers, many of them priced out by the expense of housing, have been moving away. Restaurateurs who say they can no longer find or afford servers are figuring out how to do without them. And so in this city of staggering wealth, you can eat like a gourmand, with real stemware and ceramic plates. But first, you’ll have to go get your silverware.
[...]
On July 1, the minimum wage in San Francisco [was increased to] $15 an hour, [and the city] requires employers with at least 20 workers to pay health-care costs... in addition to paid sick leave and parental leave.

Despite those benefits, many workers say they can’t afford to live here or to stay in the industry. And partly as a result of those benefits, restaurateurs say they can’t afford the workers who remain. A dishwasher can now make $18 or $19 an hour. And because of California labor laws, even tipped workers like servers earn at least the full minimum wage, unlike their peers in most other states.

The TL;DR might be summed up as "San Francisco, one of the first places to see a $15 an hour minimum wage, is reaping the rewards of the progress. By pricing low-wage workers right out of their jobs."

Original Submission