FRESNO, Calif. — A last-minute deal in Sacramento could determine whether fast-food workers get a big wage increase.
It's been a back-and-forth dilemma between labor unions and fast-food giants for over ten years now.
The bill is on the fast track after both parties agreed on the deal.
If the proposal bill AB-1228 passes and is signed off by Governor Gavin Newsom, about half a million fast food workers will have a big increase in pay in April of 2024.
Labor unions had been planning a ballot measure asking voters to regulate the fast-food industry.
The fast-food industry was fighting off a new law that would have created a fast-food council.
Instead, they've all dropped the push in exchange for hiking fast food workers' wages to $20, for those at chains with 60 locations nationwide.
It also convened a nine-member fast food council which would have the power to increase wages.
The council would have representatives from both labor and the restaurant industry.
The proposed wage increase is good for workers, but not so much for business owners like Raul Gutierrez Jr. who owns Papi's Mex Grill.
He is also the president of the Fresno Chapter of the California Restaurant Association.
He says at the end of the day, this will affect everyone somehow.
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