[ad_1]
New York
CNN
—
California voters are set to vote next year on a referendum that could overturn a landmark new state law that sets working conditions and a minimum wage of up to $22 an hour for fast food workers in the nation’s largest state.
Chipotle, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger, and KFC owner Yum! brands each donated $1 million to Save Local Restaurants, an anti-law coalition. Other large fast food companies, business groups, franchise owners, and many small restaurants have also spent millions of dollars criticizing and opposing the law.
The bill, known as the FAST Act, was signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom last year and was scheduled to go into effect on January 1. California’s secretary of state announced on Tuesday that a petition to stop the enforcement of the law has gathered enough signatures. qualify to vote on the state’s 2024 general election ballot.
The high-profile initiative could transform California’s fast food industry and serve as a precursor to similar policies in other parts of the country, proponents and critics of the bill argued.
The law was the first in the United States to establish a 10-member Fast Food Council made up of workers, employers, and government representatives to oversee standards for workers in the state’s fast food industry. Approved the establishment of the association.
The council had the power to set sector-wide minimum standards for wages, health and safety protections, vacation policies and worker retaliation measures at more than 100 fast food restaurants nationwide.
Council could raise minimum wage in fast food industry to $22 an hour. The rest of the state has a minimum of $15.50. From there, that minimum rises annually based on inflation.
The California fast food industry employs over 550,000 people. Nearly 80% are people of color and about 65% are women, according to the International Service Workers Union, which supports the law and the Fighting $15 movement.
Proponents of the law, including unions and labor groups, see it as a groundbreaking model for improving wages and conditions for fast food workers and overcoming the obstacles that unionize workers in the industry. They argue that California’s success could lead other worker-friendly cities and states to adopt similar councils to regulate fast food and other service industries. Less than 4% of restaurant workers nationwide are unionized.
U.S. labor law is structured around unions organized and negotiated at individual stores or factories. This makes it nearly impossible to organize workers in fast food and retail chains with thousands of outlets.
California law would move the state closer to sectoral bargaining, a form of collective bargaining in which workers and employers negotiate wages and standards across industries.
Opponents of the law argue that it is a drastic measure with harmful effects. Citing an analysis by UC Riverside economists that a 20% increase in restaurant workers’ compensation increases restaurant prices by about 7%, they unfairly target the fast food industry, raising prices and It claims it will force companies to lay off workers. The study also found that if restaurant employee compensation increased by 60%, prices in limited-service restaurants would jump by up to 22%.
“This law imposes a food tax on consumers, takes away jobs and drives restaurants out of communities,” said the Save Local Restaurants coalition.
On Wednesday, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said the law would lead to an “unelected council of political insiders rather than local business owners and their teams” making major business decisions. accusing it of being promoted by a union that
Opponents point to similar strategies used by Uber, Lyft and gig companies to overturn a 2020 California law that required drivers to be reclassified as employees rather than “independent contractors.” I’m looking. Minimum wage, overtime, paid sick leave.
In 2020, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and others will spend more than $200 million to convince California voters to pass Proposition 22, a ballot measure that exempts companies from reclassifying employees as employees. succeeded in passing the
[ad_2]
Source link
