Fast food companies agreed

during the weekend

to remove a referendum from next year’s ballot that aimed to overturn a landmark worker protection law, and avoid a costly political battle

with trade unions over employee wages. over workers’ wages under a new peace deal in their bitter battle with California’s powerful unions.

The deal will result in a $20 per hour increase in the minimum wage for fast food workers

i

n April and form a new council of representatives for workers and companies to consider wage increases in the future,

This is what sources involved in the negotiations say.

Negotiated with the help of the governor. Gavin Newsom’s top advisers

and legislative leaders

the deal represents a rare compromise that allows companies and workers to avoid a voting battle over the repeal of a law raising wages in the fast-food sector

that could have surpassed $100 million in campaign spending.

“It’s a powerful, wonderful day,” said Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California. “The new law really paves the way for workers to regain their victory.”

TK FAST FOOD

The saga over Assembly Bill 257, also known as the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, began last year when the Service Employees International Union pushed the proposal through the state Legislature with the help of its Democratic allies. Restaurant owners opposed the legislation, arguing that they could not bear the higher costs without raising prices for their customers.

Newsom’s signature on the bill opened a political chess match in Sacramento that has played out quietly all year, with maneuvers in the state budget, several pieces of legislation and a new law changing the way Californians vote in ballot referendums.

The Fast Food Act originally created a 10-member statewide Fast Food Council and regional councils, made up of employee and employer representatives, to set minimum wage, hour, and working condition standards in California, which unions touted as a national model of success. Under the law, wages could have risen to $22 an hour by 2024 for workers at chains with more than 100 restaurants.

Fast food companies quickly launched a campaign to qualify a referendum on the ballot to reverse the law, a tactic

Business interests have decided to pause and block the enactment of progressive laws in California.

Unions cried foul, arguing that wealthy corporations were abusing the referendum system to deflect the will of a Democratic supermajority in Sacramento and trick voters into overturning laws designed to benefit some of the state’s lowest-income workers. let work. Armed with anecdotes from signature gatherers that inaccurately portray the campaign’s intent to qualify the referendum for the ballot, they introduced a bill to make it easier for voters to understand the petitions they sign.

The bill, AB 421 that Newsom signed on Friday, changes the voting options for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in referendums

to “uphold the law” or “overthrow the law” so that voters are not confused about how to cast their votes.

AB 421 also gives campaigns a way to take their referendum off the ballot after it becomes eligible.

Through the state budget passed this summer, Democrats also revived a separate board called the Industrial Welfare Commission with expanded powers to raise wages indefinitely and set workplace conditions for fast-food and other California industries. The IWC, which was disbanded years earlier, served as an insurance policy if the fast food industry’s referendum on AB 257 were successful and the original fast food council was nullified.

Under a separate bill, AB 1228, unions put even more pressure on companies by seeking to hold fast-food franchisors legally liable for labor violations committed by franchisees.

Orr said unions knew they had to be strategic after wealthy companies tried to overturn the fast-food wage law.

“That’s what it takes,” Orr said. “Steps are needed at multiple levels to push back on corporate interests and resources that are holding back workers’ progress.”

The strategy ultimately brought representatives of the fast food industry and unions to the negotiating table this summer. In the deal closed

during the weekend

both sides offered concessions to avoid a referendum fight.

TK FAST FOOD AGAIN

Fast food companies vowed to remove their referendum to repeal AB 257 from the November 2024 ballot. In return, lawmakers and the governor agreed

to rework

AWAY

257 and financing the revival of the

Industrial Welfare Commission, which was to meet in January.

Unions agreed

Stop

their efforts to hold companies accountable for labor violations committed by their franchisees under AB 1228.

Unions won a $20-an-hour wage increase next year for California workers employed by a fast-food chain with more than 60 locations across the country. The deal also gives the new council the opportunity to do that

approve in advance

annual wage increases of 3.5% or an amount based on the average changes in the consumer price index per year, whichever is lower;

that would

apply to fast food workers statewide or in specific regions.

Statewide, it is estimated that the $20 minimum wage increase will impact more than 500,000 workers.

As part of

the bigger

If the peace deal between the two sides expires in 2029, localities will be unable to further increase wages for fast-food workers regionally.

A new nine-member Fast Food Council will be created, similar to the Council created under AB 257, and will consist of two representatives of the fast food restaurant industry, two franchisees or restaurant owners, two restaurant employees, and two advocates for fast food restaurant employees. and a member of the public not affiliated with either party who will serve as chairman.

The council will have two additional non-voting members from the Department of Industrial Relations and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

The council, which will hold its first meeting on March 15, will be charged with

progressively recommending incorporation

minimum standards for fast food restaurants in terms of wages, working hours and working conditions

and coordinating work

with government agencies.

Many of the changes have been made public

Monday

subject to major amendments

FROM 1228

And

SB 105.

The bill will expire if fast food companies do not withdraw the referendum on AB 257 by January 1.

David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU United Services Workers West, urged lawmakers to pass the legislation. “Never underestimate the power of courageous workers, who stand together to improve their workplaces and uplift their families,” Huerta said. AB 1228 paves the way for fast food workers to make much-needed improvements to the policies that impact their own workplaces and their lives.”

The deal allows Democrats and their allies in Sacramento to focus their resources on defeating a ballot initiative co-sponsored by the California Business Roundtable that aims to make it harder to raise taxes in California.

For new or increased taxes approved by a two-thirds majority of the state legislature, the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act would also require voters to opt out by a majority vote in statewide elections. Passing local taxes would require the support of two-thirds of voters. The measure expands the definition of taxes to include other fees.

If approved by voters, the initiative would ultimately reduce annual state and local revenues, which worries Democrats. The measure also includes some commissions that could be a boon to real estate developers.

Democrats are pushing a separate bill in the Legislature, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13, to thwart the corporate initiative by requiring two-thirds of voters’ approval of the measure instead of a simple majority.

Newsom and environmentalists are gearing up for a new battle over setbacks surrounding new oil and gas wells. SB 1137, which passed last year, bans new or modified oil and gas wells within 3,000 feet of homes, schools, parks and other buildings open to the public.

As with the fast food law, oil companies qualified a referendum on the November 2024 ballot asking voters to reject the law. Supporters of the original law raised concerns about the way referendum signatures were collected, prompting environmentalists to work with the labor movement to pass AB 421 to rein in corporations.

OFFICE OF TK GOVERNOR