SEIU Fast Food Labor Union Sends Demands Another Minimum Wage Increase

The California Fast Food Workers Union, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) affiliate, announced on Thursday that they already want a raise for fast food workers in California at the end of the year, proposing a raise from the new $20-per-hour to $20.70-per-hour.

Following the signing of AB 1228 in October by Governor Gavin Newsom, the new $20 minimum wage for fast food employees, a massive jump from the $16 minimum wage, has forced multiple companies take extreme measures. Some, like Chipotle and McDonalds, have announced already raised prices before the effective wage raise date of April 1st. Others are investing in automated kiosks and other automated devices to help reduce the number of employees. Some businesses outright closed.

Most notable, however, has been the massive amount of layoffs. Already, over 1,200 Pizza Hut drivers have had announced lay-offs, to be replaced by services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats in the coming months. Roundtable Pizza has also done the same with many of their delivery drivers, with many other chains also quietly doing the same for deliveries in the following months, as seen by the jump of fast food businesses on food delivery sites.

As the economic effects took a toll before the law was even in place, lawmakers scrambled to mitigate the damage. AB 1228 bill author, Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), created a new bill to grant numerous exemptions in an attempt to lighten the economic blow of AB 1228, but for fast food restaurants in airports, stadiums, casinos, events and corporate campuses. As the Globe noted, AB 610 does anything but cleanup the mess caused by AB 1228. While it was passed, closures still continued, but on the more quiet side. In June, this included the mass closing of Rubio’s restaurants across the state.

Currently, many fast food restaurants are on the edge in California. As the Globe reported earlier this week, 74% of all fast food restaurants are now looking at an increased likelihood of shutting down. Overseeing the changes since April has been the Governor’s new Fast Food Council, a group under the  Department of Industrial Relations that sets minimum health, safety and employment standards across the California fast food industry. And, despite the wage going up from $16 an hour to $20 an hour only four months ago, the fast food union on Wednesday gave their latest demands to the Council, which included a raise in the minimum wage.

The latest minimum wage demand

While the SEIU is demanding other things, such as more stable schedules for employees and more investigations into things like wage theft and unsafe conditions, the question of a higher minimum wage surprised many. According to their memo released on Wednesday, the SEIU wants the minimum wage for fast food workers to go up by 70 cents an hour by January 2025 to help workers deal with inflation.

“As California’s fast-food industry grows, cooks and cashiers are doubling down on their fight across the state to win safe and healthy stores, stable hours, pay that keeps up with inflation and training to understand their rights on the job,” said the memo. “The industry has added jobs and multiple franchisees have also noted that the higher wage is already attracting better job candidates, thus reducing turnover.”

However, this argument ignores the fact that thousands of fast food jobs have been lost since the bill became law in April, with an even higher minimum wage likely to raise prices and cause greater financial distress for fast food restaurant owners and operators.

“It’s obvious that the fast food union and the SEIU don’t know much about how fast food restaurants actually operate,” said Raul, a fast food restaurant owner in Long Beach, to the Globe on Thursday. “I mean the $20 minimum wage. That should stay in place, static at the same price, for years while everyone else catches up. We’d all prefer it go down, but if it is staying, then we don’t have any more raises on top of that for years. We all hate it because it is putting our businesses in jeopardy.

“You know what you don’t do? Give another raise after less than a year. If this happens, you know, prices will go up again and we’ll have to go more towards automation. Just ask the auto industry how well automation worked out for their workers. It’s hard for us now. Another raise and, well, we’ll be looking at the red again. And we’ll have to make hard decisions again.”

The Fast Food Council is set to meet again in September, including a possible decision over the union’s demands.