Jesse Lara know all about rising costs.
His family-owned franchise owns 34 El Pollo Loco restaurants throughout Southern California, and in recent months they’ve all been hammered by inflationary price hikes. But now he has something new to worry about — Assembly Bill 257.
The legislation would create a state-run council to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions for California’s fast-food workers. And a new report suggests those changes could push higher prices onto consumers by as much as 20%.
The analysis — compiled by the UC Riverside Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development and paid for by the International Franchise Association — comes as nearly 100 fast-food franchisees traveled Wednesday, Aug. 17 to Sacramento to speak out against the impacts of the bill, also known as the FAST Recovery Act.
The legislation — supported locally by community allies and labor leaders — is designed to address wage theft, harassment, discrimination and unsafe work conditions fast-food workers say they face on the job. Similar bills have been passed in California to protect garment and contract construction workers.
Lara’s biggest concern is having an unelected body dictate what his restaurants can and can’t do. He employs more than 1,000 workers, and AB 257 leaves lots of unanswered questions.
“Would we still be able to hire and employ as many people as we do?” Laura asked. “Would we be able to offer as many hours, and would we have to raise costs to stay afloat?...
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