California’s fast-food council faces a referendum in 2024. Workers say they won’t back down

California voters will have the last word on whether the state can create a council to set wages and working conditions for more than half-a-million fast-food workers.

An industry-backed referendum officially qualified for the 2024 ballot Tuesday evening after the Secretary of State’s office announced it had received enough valid signatures. The approval sets up an expensive showdown between labor advocates and the fast-food industry, with spending potentially reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Save Local Restaurants, the coalition that spearheaded the referendum campaign, argued that the council’s oversight would place an undue burden on local franchisees and drive up the cost of food, assertions that workers reject. The group raised over $13 million between January and September last year for its campaign against the council.

“California voters have made clear that they want a say on whether they must shoulder the burden of higher prices and job losses caused by the FAST Act,” said the Save Local Restaurants coalition in a statement Wednesday morning.

“We can’t afford to wait another two years for the seat at the table we’ve already won,” said Angelica Hernandez, a McDonald’s employee in Los Angeles, in a statement Tuesday night. “Until we get it, we refuse to back down from our fight.”

The first-in-the-nation council would regulate any chain restaurant with at least 100 locations in the United States and could set minimum wages at $22 an hour. The council would give workers like Hernandez a voice in regulating their industry. Employees and labor advocates have repeatedly accused fast-food corporations like McDonald’s of enabling sexual harassment and wage theft, among other workplace violations.

With the referendum on the ballot, fast-food workers will now have to wait until Nov. 5, 2024 to learn if they’ll gain the raises and workplace protections they’ve fought for over the last two years since the bill, known as AB 257 or the FAST Recovery Act, was first introduced by then-Sen. Lorena Gonzalez.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law on Labor Day last year. But the following day, opponents filed a referendum petition. Their paid signature-gatherers collected over 1 million signatures from Californians, of which about 77% were deemed valid by the state’s county clerks and registrars.

Advocates say a referendum battle won’t stop them from fighting for better treatment of fast-food workers.

“Despite fast-food corporations’ efforts to distort the referendum process, we know California voters see through their tricks,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of Service Employees International Union, in a statement.

“No corporation is more powerful than half a million workers joining together to demand a seat at the table.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 6:19 PM.