By Jeanne Kuang

WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO

AB 257 creates a state-run council to set labor standards across the fast food sector, including on wages, safety and other workplace conditions. The council would consist of fast food workers, their advocates, restaurant owners, fast food corporations and the state’s labor and business departments. Assemblymember Chris Holden, a Pasadena Democrat, carried the bill.

WHO SUPPORTS IT

The Service Employees International Union and its Fight for $15 campaign for low-wage workers, the California Labor Federation and other unions backed the bill. 

WHO IS OPPOSED

A swath of business and restaurant groups representing individual franchise owners and corporate chains, including a number of minority chambers of commerce, opposed it. 

WHY IT MATTERS

The bill is a first-in-the-nation attempt by a state to regulate a broad range of working conditions across an industry that this year employed roughly 700,000 Californians. It’s also labor’s foothold toward bargaining power for a low-wage workforce that has been difficult to unionize because of widespread franchise ownership. Business groups say California’s labor laws already are onerous, and new regulations would raise costs at a time of record inflation and threaten a business model that has allowed many minority entrepreneurs to advance.

GOVERNOR’S CALL ✅

On Labor Day, Newsom announced he’s signing the bill in a Twitter video. “California is committed to ensuring that the men and women who have helped build our world-class economy are able to share in the state’s prosperity,” he said in a statement. “Today’s action gives hardworking fast-food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table to set fair wages and critical health and safety standards across the industry. I’m proud to sign this legislation on Labor Day when we pay tribute to the workers who keep our state running as we build a stronger, more inclusive economy for all Californians.”

The fast food industry, however, is trying to qualify a referendum for the 2024 ballot to overturn the law.