Pizza Hut To Lay Off All Delivery Drivers In California Due To State’s Minimum Wage Increase
Via Business Insider:
Two Pizza Hut operators in California are eliminating their in-house delivery services at hundreds of stores, resulting in more than 1,200 driver layoffs, according to federal-employment notices reviewed by Business Insider.
The Pizza Hut franchisees are reducing staff as fast-food chains in the state brace for a new law that increases worker pay to $20 an hour in April.
A driver who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation told BI that he was offered $400 severance pay if he stuck around through his February 5 layoff date.
The layoffs, effective throughout February, affect Pizza Hut delivery drivers in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties, and that $20/hour minimum wage was actually a compromise made between labor unions and fast food companies, as the original legislation would’ve bumped pay to $23/hour. With no delivery drivers, customers will be relying on independent contractors at DoorDash or GrubHub to bring them the deadly and toxic “pizza,” which is literally not anything close to actual food that any human being should be consuming. The gig workers make barely $12/hour on average, when factoring in the cost of their automobile, car insurance, and gas (it costs about $70 to fill up your tank right now in California). They also, of course, have to pay for their own health insurance, assuming they aren’t covered by another full time employer at a second (or third, or fourth) job. Just fun stuff all around.
As if Pizza Hut (which is owned by Yum Brands, who also own the similarly vomit and projectile diarrhea-inducing Taco Bell and KFC) pizza wasn’t bad enough, refusing to pay employees a paltry $20/hour shows you just how evil and inhumane these sick corporate billionaires are. After taxes, someone making $20/hour and working 40 hours per week is earning about $30,000 per year. In L.A. county, the average monthly rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is $2600, which equals $31,200 per year. This means they’d be about $1200 short annually if they wanted to keep a roof over their head while working at Pizza Hut, but if they somehow spent no money on food, paid zero utilities (no lights and no running water, but maybe they can shower at a neighbor’s), walked to work, had no cell phone, had no single other expense whatsoever, and were able to borrow $1200 from someone every year (without ever having to pay it back, I guess?), they might be able to squeeze by, assuming they don’t die from malnutrition or diabetes or a heart attack after eating free food from Pizza Hut all year.
So, $20/hour obviously isn’t anywhere close to a living wage in California (unless you live in a 3-bedroom apartment with 10 other people), and Pizza Hut isn’t even willing to pay that unlivable amount. Corporate greed will continue to destroy whatever is left of this shithole country until there’s nothing left, and ultimately, maybe that’s a good thing. It’s way past time for a total and complete reset.
