A day after Newsom signed California’s fast food law, opponents began trying to block it.
One day after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law that intended to increase wages for fast food workers, opponents began attempts to block it and let voters decide its fate in 2024.
A request to overturn Assembly Bill 257 with a referendum was filed with California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office on Tuesday. It asks that the Jan. 1 effective date of the law be postponed and the measure placed on the November 2024 ballot if organizers collect enough signatures.
The filing sent to Bonta’s office, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, showed California residents Steven McDermed and Amber Evans as the proponents for the referendum. They are represented by Nielsen Merksamer, a political law and lobbying firm in Sacramento. The firm did not respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, opponents announced the formation of a coalition, Protect Neighborhood Restaurants, co-chaired jointly by the International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association. In a press release, the coalition took credit for filing the referendum.
“As a result of backroom politicking, Governor Newsom has signed a lie into law and maligned all of California’s quick service small businesses and local franchisees as bad employers,” the release said. “AB 257 never should have been introduced, it never should have passed, and it never should have been signed into law by the Governor.”
This effort to overturn the law follows Newsom’s Labor Day signing of the FAST Recovery Act. Fast food workers held demonstrations and walkouts to advocate for the measure over the summer.
“I’m proud to sign this legislation on Labor Day when we pay tribute to the workers who keep our state running as we build a stronger, more inclusive economy for all Californians,” said Newsom in a press release.
The new law would create a first-in-the-nation labor council to set wages and working standards for fast food workers. The 10-member council would consist of employers, employees and government officials.
The council’s regulations would apply to any chain restaurant with at least 100 locations in the United States. It could set minimum wages at $22 an hour for fast workers by next year.
Bonta’s office said it expects to issue a title and summary for the referendum by Sept. 16, which would be the start date for the collection of signatures. Opponents need to collect about 623,000 signatures — 5% of the total number of votes in the last gubernatorial election — for the measure to qualify for the ballot. They have until Dec. 4 to submit the required signatures to the Secretary of State’s office.
If the referendum qualifies, it could lead to a costly battle between organized labor and the fast food industry, with spending reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.
The bill’s author Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, called it “unfortunate” that the fast food industry was rushing to “referendum rhetoric.”
“Rhetoric that costs millions and doesn’t deliver workplace solutions,” said Holden in a statement. “It is saddening that the industry is looking for a way out of providing a seat at the table amongst all stakeholders. It is high time that we build up and engage the workers who make the multi-billion fast food industry possible.”
AB 257 was propelled by labor organizations like Service Employees International Union who have worked for years to organize fast food restaurants, including leading campaigns to raise the state’s minimum wage.
SEIU president Mary Kay Henry and other advocates blasted the referendum and corporations in a press call Wednesday afternoon. She called the referendum a “thinly veiled attempt” to silence the state’s more than a half million fast food workers. Henry also said she did not expect the initiative to qualify, but advocates are “prepared for a fight.”
“In an act of extraordinary greed and cowardice, fast food corporations are looking to buy their way out of the law intended to lift pay for workers…This isn’t how companies act when they’re proud of their business model,” Henry said. “It’s how they act when they’re terrified of their own workers and the power of collective action.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2022 at 5:49 PM with the headline "A day after Newsom signed California’s fast food law, opponents began trying to block it.."
