The state’s coat of arms inside the Vermont Statehouse. Courtesy photo Mona Abou is a reporter with the Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting Documentary Storytelling program. Vermont lawmakers introduced a bill this month that would increase the minimum w age for fast food workers to $20 an hour. If approved, the new pay rate would take effect in Jan. 2027.  The bill, H.713, would also create a new state council to study and recommend workplace standards and future wages for those workers.  The higher wage only would apply to employees who work at restaurant chains with more than 60 locations nationwide. Employees of locally owned or smaller establishments would only qualify for Vermont’s existing minimum wage of $14.42 an hour.  That gap worries some local restaurant workers, who say small businesses can’t compete with big conglomerates. But lawmakers who support the bill say it would create stronger protections for workers.  “With fast food workers, they’re unique — an important part of our economy,” Rep. William Greer, D-Bennington-2, one of the bill’s three sponsors, told the Community News Service. “And I think that we need to be taking unique, significant steps to protect their particular part of the industry.”  Greer told the House Committee on General and Housing on Jan. 20 that H.713 is based on a similar bill in California that took effect last April. Greer said the $20 pay rate is a placeholder and that lawmakers could adjust the number as they saw fit.  “It may need to be $17, it may need to be $19, it might even need to be higher than $20,” he said. Greer said he has already heard some criticism about the bill, including concerns that higher wages could lead to higher prices for customers or inequality between fast food workers and local business employees. Greer sees the argument differently. “I think it’s actually leveling the playing field more between those two distinct groups within that sector of the industry,” he said.  Skylar Mihalik, a worker at Burlington Bagel on the Church Street Marketplace, said the proposed wage increase is several dollars higher than her workplace’s starting pay. Mihlalik said she’s happy that food service workers could be paid more but thinks the bill is “slightly unfair” and could widen the gap between chain and local establishments.  “Local businesses are fighting so hard against these big businesses and trying to stay open,” she said. “That’s just going to increase demand for people working at these big businesses instead of local businesses.” Dana Srsic, who also works at Burlington Bagel, said she thinks the bill is a step in the right direction because of Burlington’s high cost of living. Jessica Nelson, a store manager at Starbucks’ Williston location, said she supports the bill because higher pay could improve her current staff’s work-life balance and drive more people to apply to the store. “It’s hard to make a living, especially in Vermont. And so, if you want to get a job in the food industry, you’re probably having more than one job,” she said. “It would be really interesting to see who would be able to apply and who would enjoy it if they were able to make the money.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Fast food wage bill would raise minimum pay to $20 an hour in 2027. ...read more read less