The union of fast food workers in California is calling on the state to raise the minimum wage for fast food employees again.
According to a letter sent to the national Fast Food Council last month, the union is demanding a wage of $20.70 starting in 2025 and $21.40 starting in 2026. The proposed 3.5 percent annual increase is a response to rising inflation, the letter said.
The council was created to set wages and regulations for the fast-food industry through a law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2023. That law also gave fast-food workers one of the largest pay raises ever by raising the minimum wage from $16.21 to $20 starting in April. The union’s letter called the nearly 25% wage jump a “major achievement.”
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However, several union members said that restaurants had cut their hours in response to the wage increase, almost completely offsetting the wage increase. Even after April, fast-food workers would still face the “impossible” decision of whether to pay their rent or their phone bills, the union’s letter said.
Gilberta Acevedo, a Taco Bell worker in San Jose, said she is working a quarter of the hours she used to. Her manager told her sales had dropped and her hours had been cut accordingly, but she was suspicious.
She said her store had a monitor that showed every sale and she hadn’t noticed any changes. Also, the store had hired more employees and given them the same hours she used to work, she said.
She said that now that she can no longer work her usual hours, she is behind on paying her garbage bill.
“I’m really sad. Whenever my supervisor wanted me to stay late, I always stayed to help,” Acevedo said through an interpreter, adding that she believes the business is taking revenge on its workers. “For the hours to go from regular to 20 to 25 hours (over two weeks) really makes me sad.”
At a union-hosted party in San Jose following Wednesday’s Fast Food Council meeting in Sacramento, workers urged council members to listen to workers like Acevedo.
And many of the 30 or so participants, including Spanish-only speakers, expressed frustration at not having access to translation of the session.
Several speakers — including Acevedo, who joined remotely from the Watch Party — asked the council during their public comments at the meeting to dedicate a public hearing specifically to the stories of fast-food workers from across the state.
The San Jose election party was part of the union’s nationwide effort to pressure the council to push through its labor demands. While workers from the union’s Los Angeles chapter chanted “Si se puede” during their public address at the meeting, some of the San Jose workers nodded along in unison.
But the brand new council was more concerned with just getting things going. At its second meeting, the council’s discussions revolved more around hiring support staff and how to set agendas.
“We are a completely new board,” said Nick Hardeman, the council’s chairman. “We are building from the ground up.”
Fast food workers weren’t the only group pushing for a change at the council. Several public commenters urged the council to propose exceptions to the $20 wage increase for ice cream workers.
And Matthew Sutton of the California Restaurant Association urged the council to give restaurants time to adjust to the minimum wage increase in April before taking further action.
“What you’ve done is tremendous, isn’t it?” Sutton said, referring to the pay raise. “Four dollars overnight: that’s beyond shocking.”
But spokespeople for the public assembly and the electoral party said they had no time to wait for change.
“I’m tired. I’ve been working in the fast food industry for over 20 years,” said Lourdes Farfan, also providing public comment remotely from the San Jose Watch Party. “They desperately need to hear us out.”
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