In a milestone for the higher wages movement, also known as the “Fight for $15,” the Legislature and governor recently approved Assembly Bill 1228 boosting pay for 550,000 California fast-food workers to $20 an hour beginning next April. The legislation also creates a Fast Food Council comprised of employers, employees and government officials to set wages and regulate working conditions in California for fast-food chains with more than 60 locations nationwide.
AB 1228 could foreshadow a new phase of the Fight for $15 movement.
The Fight for $15 movement began in 2012 when hundreds of New York fast-food workers organized strikes to push for $15 an hour pay and higher labor standards. By 2014, fast-food strikes supported by Service Employees International Union spread to 190 cities nationwide. In California, fast-food workers have waged more than 350 strikes and filed 300 wage and health and safety complaints. Additionally, thousands of low-wage janitors, hotel, airport and health care workers have organized unions and launched strikes for higher wages.
Consequently, 12 states and 54 counties and cities enacted phased-in $15-an-hour minimum wage laws. California was the first to pass a $15 minimum wage in 2016. According to the National Employment Law Project, 26 million low-wage workers, on average, won pay increases of roughly $6,000 annually for each affected worker.
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