Joe Erlinger did not mince his words. “This lopsided, hypocritical and ill-considered legislation hurts everyone,” the top McDonald’s executive declared in 2022, as California considered a landmark $20 hourly minimum wage for fast-food workers.
The state ignored such warnings, enforcing a pay rise for an estimated 500,000 people in California – home to some of lowest-paid staff in the US workforce – last April.
