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The fast-food model lets corporations escape liability. California might chart a new course
AB 257, a proposed law that would establish a statewide Fast Food Sector Council made up of workers, corporate representatives, franchisees and state officials that would meet every three years to negotiate industry standards on wages, work hours and other conditions for fast-food workers.
The bill would hold fast-food corporations responsible for ensuring their franchisees comply with a variety of employment and public health and safety orders, including those related to unfair business practices, employment discrimination, the California Retail Food Code, as well as new standards issued by the council. The bill would make franchisee violations of employment laws enforceable against franchiser and franchisee equally.
Studies
State and Local Policies and Sectoral Labor Standards: From Individual Rights to Collective Power
Ken Jacobs, Rebecca Smith, and Justin McBride
UC Berkeley, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (July 2021)
Fiscal Effects of the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, AB 257
Ken Jacobs
UC Labor Center (May 2021)
COVID-19 Hazards Among California Fast-Food Workers
Rajiv Bhatia and Martha Dina Arguello
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles (April 2021)
Few Options, Many Risks: Low Wage Asian and Latinx Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and University of California, Berkeley Labor and Occupational Health Program (April 2021)
Raising Standards for Fast-Food Workers in California: The Powerful Role of a Sectoral Council
David Madland
Center for American Progress (April 2021)
Strategies to Improve the Franchise Model: Preventing Unfair and Deceptive Franchise Practices
Report from the Office of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (April 2021)
Wage Theft in Silicon Valley: Building Worker Powers
Michael Tayag, Ruth Silver Taube, Felwina Mondina, Katherine Nasol, and Forest Peterson
Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition (April 2021)
The Fast-Food Industry and COVID-19 in Los Angeles
Kuochih Huang, Ken Jacobs, Tia Koonse, Ian Eve Perry, Kevin Riley, Laura Stock and Saba Waheed
UCLA Labor Center, UC Berkeley Labor Center, UCLA Labor Occupational Health and Safety Program, and the UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program (March 2021)
Yea-Hung Chen, Maria Glymour, Alicia Riley, John Balmes, Kate Duchowny, Robert Harrison, Ellicott Matthay, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo
Institute for Global Health Sciences, UC San Francisco, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UC San Francisco, Department of Medicine, UC San Francisco (January 2021)
News
The fast-food model lets corporations escape liability. California might chart a new course
Back to News AB 257, a proposed law that would establish a statewide Fast Food Sector Council made up of workers,...
Los Angeles Times: The fast-food model lets corporations escape liability. California might chart a new course
Back to News When you pass a McDonald’s you might assume it’s operated by the global mega-corporation. But in many...
Mother Jones: My McDonald’s Franchise Fired Me for Trying Not to Get COVID
Back to News The first person who got COVID was someone I’d worked right next to. I didn’t know she had COVID....
San Jose Spotlight: San Jose worker protests heat, wage theft at Burger King
Back to News A San Jose worker is blowing the whistle on Burger King for forcing employees to work in dangerously hot...
Tracy Press: Assemblyman Villapudua is Ignoring 6,500 San Joaquin Constituents
Back to News Outside Tracy City Hall Thursday, amid a wave of red and yellow flags, fast-food workers in their...
Los Angeles Times: Low-wage workers face retaliation for demanding COVID-19 safety measures at work
Back to News In early June, Lizzet Aguilar went on a four-day strike. She demanded that the McDonald’s location in...
McDonald’s Franchise Settles Suit Involving ‘Dog Diaper’ Masks
Back to News By Noam Scheiber Aug. 12, 2021 There have been many confrontations over workplace safety since the...
Sacramento Bee: ‘Being in hell’: California’s indoor workers face dangers from increasing heat waves
Back to News Cooks working next to a fryer without air conditioners in a 115-degree room. Workers pleading to use...
McDonald’s Workers Will Strike for $15 an Hour in 15 Cities
Back to News McDonald's cashiers and cooks in 15 U.S. cities will strike on May 19—a day before the fast-food...
McDonald’s Workers Will Strike for $15 an Hour in 15 Cities
Back to News McDonald's cashiers and cooks in 15 U.S. cities will strike on May 19—a day before the fast-food...
Raising Standards for Fast-Food Workers in California
Back to News By David Madland April 20, 2021, 2:55 pm Fast-food workers across the United States, often adults...
McDonald’s workers want more say over California labor conditions. This plan would help them
Back to News BY JEONG PARK APRIL 26, 2021 05:00 AM, UPDATED APRIL 26, 2021 08:05 AM Lizzet Aguilar knew to speak up...