Minimum wage increase on California ballot differentiates between workers

Should company size dictate an employee's minimum wage?

Believe it or not, when Californians head to the polls early next month, there will be more items on our ballots than simply the names of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

We have other candidates running for other offices, of course, but we also have a slew of propositions covering everything from bonds for public schools to rent control to Medi-Cal funding to involuntary servitude in California's prisons.

But the one that really caught my eye is Proposition 32, which proposes to raise the state's minimum wage to $18 an hour.

But wait, you say, didn't we just raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour?

Well, yes and no. 

If you are flipping burgers for McDonald's you are now indeed making at least $20 an hour.

But, if you are flipping burgers for the only Big Bob's Big Bad Burger Barn in the state, you are much more likely to be making $16 an hour. Not that most guys named Bob are not extremely kind and generous.

For my money, it shouldn't matter what your occupation is. Put simply, the minimum wage should apply across the board to every single person who is working for a living. It shouldn't matter if you're grating cheese for nachos, digging ditches, hauling firewood or writing a column for the local newspaper, the minimum wage should always be the same.