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California law aimed at raising wages and improving working conditions for fast food workers is in the hands of voters.
The initiative could overturn the nation’s first law passed last year.
Law has more impact 500,000 fast food workers.
The referendum collected more than 623,000 valid voter signatures for the November 5, 2024 election, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber announced.
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A sign in front of a McDonald’s restaurant in San Leandro, California, on April 28, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The law establishes a 10-member council empowered to set minimum wages, working-hour standards, and working conditions. California fast food workers.
Two trade groups, the International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association, have pushed for a referendum that will leave its fate to the voters.
Opponents say the law, which raised more than $10 million last year to fund the referendum campaign, will burden chain restaurant franchise owners and drive up the cost of food.
A fast food worker walks through a McDonald’s restaurant demanding a minimum wage of $15 an hour in eastern Los Angeles on Friday, March 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, Files/AP Newsroom)
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The law was temporarily blocked in December by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge while ballot signatures were counted and verified.
The move will raise wages to $22 an hour for workers at the following chains by the end of the year: McDonald’s and Starbucks We have over 100 stores nationwide.
California’s current minimum wage for all workers is $15.50 an hour.
Both sides are expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to attract voters in the referendum battle.
A pedestrian walks under a sign for an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in San Francisco. ((AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) / AP Newsroom)
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The Service Employees International Union was confident the law would survive the election.
SEIU President Mary Kay Henderson said in a statement, “Despite the efforts of fast food companies to distort the referendum process, California voters know they see through their ruse.” No company is so powerful as 10,000 workers can come together and claim their seats.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
