Uncertainty For Some Business Owners As Minimum Wage Creeps To $13/Hour In San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The minimum wage in San Francisco goes up 75-cents Friday, hitting $13 an hour for the city's lowest paid workers.
Anna Tvelova, owner of Anda Peroshki in San Francisco told KCBS that paying her six employees more will mean raising the prices of her filled pastries.
"Right now we have peroshki costing $5, and if I have to charge $6.50 or $7, I don't think I'll have enough customers," Tvelova said.
Across the street at the Booksmith, owner Christan Evans said she is sympathetic, but has been pushing for higher minimum wages.
"What we see is that low-income workers actually spend the money that they earn, and so it's great to have those dollars going to people who are going to spend it. It'll actually boost the economy," Evans said.
Booksmith employee Amy Stevenson makes more than the minimum wage now, but remembers well when that was all she made.
"I was working in a bookstore, and I was living in a flophouse. It was like a four bedroom house with like ten people living in it, and paying a couple hundred dollars a month for half a bedroom was ridiculous, and so many people live like that in San Francisco," Stevenson said.
Back at Anda Peroshki, Tvelova made it clear she loves her employees, but also says she assumes she'll be forced to close her two shops after the increase.
"Maybe I have to close the business, because labor expense is the biggest expense," Tvelova said.