Campus, Long Beach, News

49er Shops unsure of how minimum wage increase would affect students

A 49er Shops representative said she doesn’t yet know how they will adapt to the new developments after the Long Beach City Council agreed Jan. 19 on an ordinance that will increase the minimum wage incrementally for the next coming years in hopes of stabilizing the economy.

“The most recent minimum wage increase positively affected most of all our student employees,” Kierstin Stickney, director of marketing and communications at Forty-Niner Shops, Inc., said. “Those making minimum wage were bumped up from $9 to $10 per hour. The increase also resulted in a ripple effect to other salary grades and non-student positions, raising wages for a majority of our employees.”

49er Shops, a self-funded non profit, employs 900 people, 700 of which are student employees in entry level positions, according to Stickney.

“All 49er Shops’ profits go back into the university, largely in the form of student programs and services,” Stickney said. “Our mission is to enhance and support the educational process of CSULB by training student employees with life and career skills and funding programs that support student success. Minimum wage will not change our core mission. As rates continue to increase in future years, however, it will bring a unique challenge to how we manage our business.”

With the new ordinance, Stickney said she is unsure about what changes will be made for the 49er Shops and the employees.

The increase that was approved pushes for a gradual increase from $10 an hour to $13 an hour by 2019. Based on the financial impact, additional increases may be made to $15.00 in January 2021.

According to Stickney, the new law impacts all students and employees; however, profit and nonprofit organizations operate differently. Nonprofits get an extra year to comply with the ordinance to raise wages.

“The actual law impacts all employees – there is no distinction between student/non-student or part-time/full-time staff,” Stickney said in an email. “The year delay is an extension granted to nonprofits. Nonprofits operate very differently than traditional business or funded/fee driven structures. If the 49er Shops opt for the year delay, it would encompass all employees, not just student workers. We will need to take time to view our options and consider next steps before making any decisions.”    

A nonprofit organization is an organization whose mission is to advocate for a social cause without a profit. Nonprofits operate differently than a profit organization because they serve to achieve a purpose and a mission that will benefit a specific audience.

“Since this is so new, the 49er Shops have not had adequate time to evaluate or make a decision as to whether or not we will take the extension or go with the actual law as it applies to all other organizations,” Stickney said.

The workers who will be affected the most are those in restaurants, retail, trade, education, transportation, warehousing and health care, according to a report by The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Some students were not sure the minimum wage increase will make a difference.

Overall, the wage increase is beneficial, but it hasn’t affected me much personally, although I am thrilled to hear that our wages will increase,” Alison Abraham, a senior English creative writing major, said. As a tutor for the on-campus writing resource lab, the increase will make a big difference for me and for the workers here at Long Beach, but since we are all going to get a salary increase, the cost of living will continue to rise, which isn’t beneficial because the cost of living now is still too much for the majority of hourly wage workers.

The first raise to $10 per hour took effect Jan. 1.

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