War of the wages!

Fast food workers in California are asking for another minimum wage hike just months after the Golden State bumped their pay from $16 to $20 an hour.

The California Fast Food Workers Union — a branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — released a new list of demands at the first-ever meeting of the state’s Fast Food Council, according to KTLA 5 News.

The union is asking that wages for workers be raised to $20.70 per hour by Jan. 1, 2025, “to keep up with the rising cost of living,” the SEIU released in a statement to the outlet.

They also called for increased job stability, fair payment for owed back pay, stable schedules for workers, and a thorough investigation into what they claim are widespread “pervasive abuses” in the fast food industry, KTLA 5 News reported.

They claim the abuses include wage theft, harassment, discrimination, and hazardous working conditions.

“As California’s fast-food industry grows, cooks and cashiers are doubling down on their fight across the state to win safe and healthy stores, stable hours, pay that keeps up with inflation and training to understand their rights on the job,” the SEIU statement read.

Gov. Gavin Newsom formed the council of 11 members in Sept. 2023 to establish wages and regulations for the fast-food industry.

Four months ago, the state’s new $20 minimum wage increase went into effect.

In that short period, fast-food restaurants in California have slashed nearly 10,000 jobs as struggling franchises cut labor costs and raised prices to survive.

Several major chains – including McDonald’s, Burger King, and even low-cost favorite In-N-Out Burger – jacked up prices to offset the higher wages.

Many had to cut employee hours, and some have expedited a move toward automation.

Rubio’s California Grill closed 48 of its nearly 134 locations at the end of May – making it the first major chain to fall victim to the new law.

The San Diego-based company cited the “rising cost of doing business” in the state for the closures and filed for bankruptcy in June.

President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, Jot Condie, which opposed AB 1228, said businesses are simultaneously feeling the squeeze from rising rents and food costs.

“When labor costs jump more than 25% overnight, any restaurant business with already-thin margins will be forced to reduce expenses elsewhere,” Condie told the outlet.

“They don’t have a lot of options beyond increasing prices, reducing hours of operation, or scaling back the size of their workforce.”

Fast food joints have also reiterated concerns about these rising operations costs to the council.

“I have been forced to raise prices,” an Arby franchisee told the council, according to KTLA 5 News.

“I try to do the best I can. I have taken money out of my own savings to make things work this last quarter. But I don’t know how long I’ll be able to sustain something like that moving forward.”

Customers have also felt the brunt of the new law. A survey conducted by LendingTree found 78% of consumers now consider fast food a “luxury” purchase due to how expensive the meals have become.

However, the SEIU and Newsom’s office cite data showing the industry added thousands of jobs after the law took effect on April 1, with employees not affected by the layoffs welcoming the new demand for a pay increase.

“It’s been really good because I can put more food on the table and in my fridge and pay my rent on time which was always a challenge,” Oakland Wendy’s employee Romualda Alcazar Cruz said Wednesday.

A Southern California man has been missing for nearly two weeks after he got into a mysterious car accident in the middle of the night.

Thirty-four-year-old William Orellana of Upland − about 35 miles east of Los Angeles − crashed into a light pole in Riverside on July 20 and has not been seen or heard from since, the Upland Police Department wrote on Facebook Wednesday. He was reported missing a day later.

The car was found crashed with no one inside, according to Missing People In America.

Officers found Orellana’s cellphone and his work uniform inside the abandoned white Chrysler, KABC-TV reported.

Another driver collides with Orellana’s vehicle

Another driver collided with Orellana’s vehicle car that was partly on the road around 5 a.m. July 20, according to KABC-TV. The driver told police that they did not see anyone inside the car.

“We don’t know if he hit his head on the steering wheel. We don’t know if he lost consciousness, he doesn’t know who he is. We don’t know at this point,” Kacey Silvas, Orellana’s girlfriend for the past four years, told the station.

His disappearance is “devastating” and makes no sense to Silvas, who told CBS News: “I don’t know how people can just vanish.”

Girlfriend says he has no reason to be in Riverside

Silvas said Orellana had no reason to be in the Riverside area.

“He doesn’t know anybody in Riverside. He doesn’t have any family in Riverside. The area that he was at was so isolated. We don’t know how his car got there,” she said. “We’re devastated. We just want to know if he is OK.”

Orellana’s mother, Cynthia Hernandez, said her son usually talks to her multiple times a day, CBS News reported.

“It’s the hardest thing a mother could go through,” Hernandez told the outlet. “Especially when you have such a close relationship. It’s been hard.”

Orellana is about 5-foot-7, has green/hazel eyes, a thin build and distinct tattoos on his head and neck. Anyone who finds Orellana is advised to called the Upland Police Department at (909) 946-7624.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: William Orellana crashed his car July 20. He’s been missing ever since

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Sea lions are stranding themselves on a long stretch of the California coast and showing signs that they may have been poisoned by a bloom of harmful algae, experts said Thursday.

The Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute said that since July 26, it has been inundated by daily reports of sick sea lions along 155 miles (249 kilometers) of shoreline in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, northwest of Los Angeles.

The marine mammals are suffering from domoic acid, a neurotoxin that affects the brain and heart, the institute said in a statement. The poisoning event is largely affecting adult female California sea lions, it said.

The nonprofit said it had rescued 23 animals so far. Coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base released photos of sea lions being rescued from one of its beaches on July 29.

The California coast commonly sees outbreaks of domoic acid poisoning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NOAA Fisheries.

An outbreak last year was particularly severe, with hundreds sea lions and dozens of dolphins dying in the first weeks of June.

The poison is produced by microscopic algae that are consumed by shellfish and small fish that are then eaten by sea lions, dolphins and birds. Symptoms in affected sea lions may include disorientation, head weaving, foaming at the mouth and seizures.

People can also get sickened.