Labor Day 2022 was a good one for California fast-food workers. Gov. Newsom signed a new law establishing a Fast-Food Council that allows workers to negotiate wage and working conditions on an industry-wide basis. KPBS reporter Gustavo Solis spoke with the law’s author and people who will be most impacted by it.<br/>
Gov. Gavin Newsom made Labor Day 2022 one to remember for California’s fast-food workers by signing into law a bill that will give them more power to negotiate wage increases and improve working conditions.
The bill, known as AB 257, “empowers our workers, particularly in that sector, giving them more voice, giving them more choice, creating a new council,” Newsom said in a video message posted on Twitter Monday.
The council Newsom is referring to is a statewide fast-food council, which will allow workers, employers and government officials to negotiate industry standards. The law will give the council power to establish a new minimum wage for the fast food industry, but caps it at $22 an hour. It also requires annual cost-of-living adjustments starting in 2024.
“I am proud, on Labor Day, to sign that bill and enshrine it in law,” Newsom said.
The law, which is due to take effect in January 2023, is the first in the country that creates what is known as sectoral bargaining in the fast-food industry. This means workers and employers negotiate on an industrywide basis instead of negotiating through individual companies and locations.
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