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Earning $17 an hour at a Los Angeles Jack-in-the-Box, Anneisha Williams has struggled for years to keep up with rent and bills. The Inglewood native is facing eviction, she said.
She teared up describing how Assembly Bill 1228, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in Los Angeles on Thursday, will affect her life by raising her hourly minimum wage to $20 in April.
More than half a million fast food workers will get the wage increase, most of them minorities and women, Newsom said during the signing event.
Williiams said she hopes it’ll allow her to save some money and maybe take her six children to Disneyland someday.
But not all fast food workers are as hopeful about the financial impact of the new law on their lives. Some workers said the wage hike will allow them to keep up with basic bills and rent, but no more than that.
“It’s a relief, yes, but our fight continues,” said Laura Pozos, who works in an East L.A. McDonald’s.
“Sometimes I didn’t have enough to feed my children. Honestly, it’s so sad to go through that, to be in a country that is rich in everything and to go through that.”
Angelica Hernandez, fast food worker in monterey park
The average hourly wage for fast food workers in California last year was $16.21, according to a report by the Harvard Kennedy School and UC San Francisco.
The new law would raise base wages for so-called quick-serve restaurants to at least $20 an hour and create a restaurant industry council that would set future pay raises and advise on working conditions.
Minimum wage deal
The law is the product of compromise. Restaurateurs agreed to withdraw a proposed November 2024 ballot measure that would have undone a just approved, landmark law creating a fast food industry council.
In exchange, labor advocates withdrew a proposed bill that would have linked the legal liability of franchisees’ labor violations to the franchisor corporations.
Newsom said negotiating to get the restaurant industry referendum off the ballot was like moving “a tectonic plate.”
“I can assure you, this wasn’t easy,” Newsom said. “It was a profoundly consequential prospect. Tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, would have been spent on that ballot to roll back the progress that the Assembly members had made.”
The law establishes a state-run council for five years, with business and worker representatives and a member of the public. They will set wage standards and advise on work conditions, scheduling, and health and safety standards in fast food restaurants, which labor organizers have mostly failed to unionize.
The state’s labor and commerce staff can sit in but cannot vote.
Restaurant industry officials said the newly signed law is the best outcome possible. The industry had been preparing to spend $120 million on the referendum.
Matt Haller, president of the International Franchise Association, said in a statement the new law “preserves the franchise business model.”
“Common sense has prevailed, as franchising is responsible for creating opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people to become small business owners, and this agreement eliminates the existential threats our members faced,” he said.
Working for change
Assemblymember Chris Holden, a Democrat from Pasadena who authored the original and compromise legislation, thanked franchise owners for their willingness to negotiate a deal and the workers who advocated for the law.
“I saw firsthand all of you who gave your blood, sweat and tears,” he said. “To see so many of you today who were there through the process, knocking on members’ doors, sleeping out on Capitol Park, walking out in the morning with bells and whistles to make sure all of us were paying attention. I say, to God be the glory.”
Learn more about legislators mentioned in this story
Chris Holden
State Assembly, District 41 (Pasadena)
