Dozens of fast food workers in Los Angeles spent their Thursday protesting for higher wages and better working conditions, even as the latest legislative pushback against the restaurant industry has stalled.

Carrying bright red shirts and placards, more than 100 local fast food workers and union organizers gathered on the steps of the downtown Los Angeles building that houses the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce in the morning, with plans to hold later in the morning. protest at individual restaurants. day.

“We are fighting for ourselves to live,” said one worker as the crowd cheered.

In Sacramento, however, that fight stalled, at least for the time being. That’s because a facet got stuck on a Senate committee.

Assembly Bill 1228 aims to hold fast food companies accountable for ensuring their franchisees comply with labor laws, and would make labor law violations by franchisees equally enforceable against franchisor and franchisee. The International Franchise Assn. and others in the restaurant industry have vigorously opposed the move, saying it would hurt small business owners who own franchises of major companies, such as McDonald’s.

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It’s a highly controversial piece of legislation introduced this year that represents the latest iteration of a multi-year battle between organized worker and fast-food companies for control of workplace standards.

But the chairman of the judiciary in the senate Tom Umberg said during a Tuesday session that the bill had been taken off the agenda by proponents.

The decision to withdraw the bill was made to give the opposition more time to speak with the authors, according to Service Employees International Union California, a strong supporter of the bill. Umberg said he plans to reintroduce it at a hearing in August or September.

The bill’s author, Councilman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) said the decision to reschedule the bill’s hearing was “positive.”

“I respect the space afforded for deeper scrutiny and I want to serve as a tool for clarity, not only as a former franchise owner, but as a legislator sitting around the table with fast food workers across our state,” he said. said in an emailed statement. “We have an opportunity to create a safer and more respectable work environment for these workers while improving the industry as a whole, and we are working towards that.

The union said it would push for a vote on the bill sooner rather than later.

California leaders have listened to fast-food workers speak out for years about the exploitative and abusive conditions in the industry, said David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU United Service Workers West. We are confident that the legislature and administration are fully committed to making this sector more accountable.

Opponents of the bill have derided AB 1228 as “a drastic law” that would “fundamentally destroy” California’s franchise model by forcing national fast food companies to exercise more control over local franchise restaurants.

According to a statement from the Stop the Attack on Local Restaurants coalition, a group of fast food companies and trade groups, it would mean “turning locally owned and operated restaurants into business-run restaurants and local restaurant owners relinquishing their authority as owners of deprive small businesses”.

The California Chamber of Commerce has labeled AB 1228 and many other employee-focused bills as job killers,

The union organized a series of rallies on Thursday for fast-food workers who are “fed up” with rampant labor law violations in their industry, according to a Thursday press release by SEIU, and don’t have time to wait for a fraught legislative process to play out.

Trey McGuire, 19, who works at a Lancaster location of hot dog fast food chain Wienerschnitzel, said it’s frustrating and difficult to work long 12-hour shifts and yet earn so little. He is under pressure to earn enough for his 20-month-old child and another on the way, while his partner is six months pregnant.

McGuire and his family showed up to the protest outside the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce decked out in matching red “FAST FOOD WORKERS UNIDOS” t-shirts distributed by the union.

It definitely doesn’t help employees feel valued, McGuire said, that the owner of the store where he works appears to own two Teslas.

“He drives to work three days a week, always in different cars,” McGuire said. “It makes us want to push harder and fight for what’s ours.”