This Guy Was Happy To Learn His Minimum Wage Went Up To $11… Until Reality Hit HARD

“Fight for fifteen” has been one of the rallying cries for the movement to raise the minimum wage to what proponents describe as a living wage.

While the idea sounds good in theory, the realities of the “fight for fifteen” are hitting home in one of the first cities where it’s been implemented — Seattle.

Z Pizza employee Devin Jeran was one of those who was excited about the raise in the minimum wage. However, he was less excited when he discovered that his hours would be cut significantly because of it.

“People like me are finding themselves in a tougher situation than ever,” Jeran said about the hours reductions at his place of employment. And to make matters worse, Z Pizza will be closing its doors later this year because of the law.

Seattle’s minimum wage law requires that the minimum wage be raised to $11 an hour, effective this year, with further increases to $15 phased in over six years.

However, single franchisees of larger chains are considered big business, no matter how small the ownership concern is. Therefore, the Z Pizza Jeran works at — which is owned by Ritu Shah Burnham — has been forced to accelerate the phased process to two years.

Burnham says she’ll be forced to close her doors in August, and she’s already been laying off employees.

“I’ve let one person go since April 1, I’ve cut hours since April 1, I’ve taken them myself because I don’t pay myself,” Burnham told reporters. “I’ve also raised my prices a little bit, there’s no other way to do it.”

As of August, all of her 12 employees will be out of a job. As for starting a new business, even one that wouldn’t be hit by the big business clause that caused the closing of her Z Pizza, Burnham said she didn’t feel inclined to do so.

“The discrimination I’m feeling right now against my small business makes me not want to stay and do anything in Seattle,” Burnham said.

When asked to respond, a spokeswoman for minimum-wage activist group 15 for Seattle struck a sanguine note.

“Restaurants close all the time for various reasons,” she said.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/this-guy-was-happy-to-learn-his-minimum-wage-went-up-to-11-until-reality-hit-hard/