In summary
Push to pass a labor-sponsored bill is a key ‘Fight for $15’ priority and a potential organizing foothold in an industry where unionization has long been elusive.
For three days in April, a striking group of Jack in the Box cashiers and cooks shut down their Sacramento County store. They were calling for better schedules, more staff and for management to repair a broken ice maker.
They also called for a transformation of their industry.
Donning red T-shirts from the decade-old “Fight for $15” minimum wage campaign, the workers chanted for the passage of Assembly Bill 257.
AB 257 threatens to upend the fast food franchise business model in California. It would create a state-run council to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions for an industry that, according to federal data, employs more than 700,000 people in the state.
Under the bill, employers would be responsible for the regulations, but so would the fast food corporations that partner with franchise owners.
The measure is set to be heard in a state Senate committee next week, when organizers plan a series of coordinated strikes at fast food shops in San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento.
“AB 257 will force them to change — will hold them accountable,” said Adonida Briseño, 26, a Jack in the Box worker who took part in the April strike.
The Service Employees International Union’s push to pass AB 257 is one of the most significant organizing efforts in its “Fight for $15...
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