California’s $15 minimum wage does not go into effect until 2022, but one Santa Fe Springs-based manufacturing company has already decided to leave the state this year to take advantage of cheaper wages in Texas.
“This is the last thing I want to do, but I don’t see that I have a choice,” said Fred Donnelly, president of California Composites, which makes parts for commercial airplanes.
Donnelly, who has lived in California for almost seven decades, said he is moving is company out of California because of its “dysfunctional” worker’s compensation system, excessive state and local regulations and the forthcoming $15 minimum wage.
He says his employees make on average a little less than $15 an hour now – so he would have to give them all a big raise. He said he can’t afford to do that because his company is locked into long-term contracts with customers where the price is already set.
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