The Blubber

California fast food workers to get $20 minimum wage under new deal between labor and the industry.

A new bill introduced in the California Legislature aims to resolve a longstanding wage and working conditions dispute between labor unions and the fast-food industry, potentially ensuring that most fast food workers in California receive a minimum hourly wage of at least $20 next year.

Currently, California already boasts one of the nation's highest minimum wages at $15.50 per hour. This newly proposed bill, which received approval from both labor unions and the fast food industry, seeks to raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour for employees working in California restaurants that have a minimum of 60 locations across the country. There is an exception carved out for restaurants that both produce and sell their own bread, such as Panera Bread.

The impact of this bill is substantial, encompassing approximately 500,000 fast food workers in California, as reported by the Service Employees International Union, which has been actively engaged in unionizing fast food employees in the state. Among those affected is Ingrid Vilorio, who works at a Jack In The Box establishment in the San Francisco Bay Area. She expressed how this wage increase will provide much-needed relief to her family, which had been sharing housing with two other families to afford rent until recently.

"This raise will offer us some financial breathing room," stated Vilorio, who also holds a second job as a nanny.

This bill marks the beginning of what could be a series of triumphs for labor unions within the California Legislature this year, coinciding with prominent strikes in the entertainment and hospitality sectors, collectively referred to by some as the "hot labor summer." In a separate development on Monday, the state Assembly moved forward with a proposal to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers, a policy shift that could potentially benefit Hollywood actors, writers, and Los Angeles-area hotel workers who have been on strike for a significant portion of this year.