California is raising the minimum wage for fast food workers, marking a hard-won victory for those workers and union organizers.
The new hourly wage for fast-food workers will take effect on April 1 of next year. Employees who work at fast-food restaurants with at least 60 locations nationwide are eligible.
From 2025 through 2029, the council is authorized to increase the hourly minimum wage for fast-food workers each year by a maximum of either 3.5% or the annual change in the consumer price index — a federal government measure of inflation and prices of goods — whichever is lower. In that period, only the council may set wages for fast-food workers. The law only authorizes the council through 2029.
Members of the restaurant industry lobbied hard against that law, spending millions. Ultimately, the law was put on hold pending a referendum in November 2024, which would have let voters repeal it. "The governor's signature on this bill brings to an end a years-long and expensive fight over the regulation of the California quick-service industry," Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association said in a statement Thursday. "There are significant challenges created by this law that restaurants will have to navigate, but they will do it with stable and predictable regulation.