"We've been fighting for so long": California fast food workers optimistic over $20 minimum wage bill
SACRAMENTO -- Most fast-food workers in California would be paid at least $20 per hour next year under a new bill in the state legislature aimed at ending a standoff between the industry and labor unions over wages and working conditions.
The impact is being felt industry-wide, specifically for workers who have been fighting for better pay for years.
Maria Hernandez has worked at a Folsom Jack In the Box for five years and is expecting a child next month.
"It's been really hard, mostly with inflation, you know everything was really expensive," Hernandez said. "The increase would help out so much, because even diapers alone, are so expensive. I can still work my hours, make a good living, and still be able to be around for my kid."
California's minimum wage is already among the highest in the country at $15.50 per hour. The bill, filed Monday with the blessing of both labor unions and the fast food industry, would increase the minimum wage to $20 per hour for workers at restaurants in California that have at least 60 locations nationwide — with an exception for restaurants that make and sell their own bread, like Panera Bread.
Mary Kay Henry, Service Employees International Union, tells CBS13:
"For the last decade, fast-food workers from coast to coast have demanded a living wage and a seat at the table from their employer — and in California, they're on the verge of winning. The path forward that cooks and cashiers have won is credit to the unstoppable power that working people can build together when they join together and refuse to accept a status quo that never worked for them. Black, Latino and immigrant California fast-food workers are inspiring working people across the country to think bigger and bolder than ever before, including by demanding a voice in their own pay, training, benefits and protection. Fast-food workers' fight in California isn't close to over — it has only just begun as they prepare to take their seat at the table and help transform their industry for the better."
For Hernandez, working to meet the needs of her child will now be a little easier.
"It's super exciting not just for me, but my coworkers that also have kids," Hernandez said. "We deserve a good pay even during COVID, fast food workers were working the most. It's awesome that we were able to do this, we've been fighting for so long."
The bill will impact about 500,000 fast food workers in California, according to the Service Employees International Union, which has been working to unionize fast food workers in the state.
It's unusual, but not unprecedented, for states to have minimum wages for specific industries. Minnesota lawmakers created a council to set wages for nursing home workers. In 2021, Colorado announced a $15 minimum wage for direct care workers in home and community-based services.
In California, most fast food workers are over 18 and the main providers for their family, according to Enrique Lopezlira, director of the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center's Low Wage Work Program.
Raising the minimum wage can both benefit and hinder the economy, according to Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Loyola Marymount University. He said any time wages increase in one sector, it tends to increase salaries in other sectors, too — meaning many other workers will benefit. But higher wages generally mean higher inflation, which increases the price of goods for everyone. Sohn said he estimates about two-thirds of the consumer price index — a measure of the change in prices for goods and services — can be explained by labor costs.
"From a purely economic analysis, the consequences are pretty clear," Sohn said. "From a social point of view, many of the workers who are engaged in lower-wage jobs — they really need it."
The fast food industry's unique structure — with independent owners operating franchises under the umbrella of large corporations — have made it difficult for governments to regulate and labor unions to organize. Last year, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to create a Fast Food Council with the authority to raise wages and set workplace standards for the fast food industry.
Before the law could take effect, the fast food industry gathered enough signatures to qualify a referendum on the law in the November 2024 election. That meant the law would be on hold until voters could decide whether to overturn it.
Furious, labor unions responded by sponsoring legislation this year that make fast food companies like McDonald's liable for any misdeeds of their mostly independent franchise operators in the state. Democratic lawmakers also restored funding to the Industrial Welfare Commission, a long-dormant state agency that has the power to set wage and workplace standards for multiple industries.
Both of those moves alarmed the business groups. They agreed to withdraw their referendum and to increase the minimum wage in exchange for labor unions dropping both of those issues.
"This agreement protects local restaurant owners from significant threats that would have made it difficult to continue to operate in California," said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president for public affairs for the National Restaurant Association.
The bill must still be approved by the Democratic-controlled state Legislature and signed into law by Newsom. If passed and signed, the bill can only take effect if the restaurant groups pull their referendum from the ballot. In the past, a referendum couldn't be removed from the ballot, but Newsom signed a law last week allowing it.
The $20 hourly wage would be a starting point. The nine-member Fast Food Council, which would include representatives from the restaurant industry and labor, would have the power to increase that minimum wage each year by up to 3.5% or the change in the U.S. consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, whichever is lower.