California fast food workers to get $20 minimum wage under new deal

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Most fast food workers in California would get a $20 minimum wage next year — a nearly $5 per hour raise — under a deal announced Monday between labor unions and the industry that will avoid a costly referendum on the November 2024 ballot.

The mandatory raise would apply to all fast food restaurants in California that are part of a chain with at least 60 locations nationwide. It does not apply to restaurants that operate a bakery and sell bread as a stand-alone menu item, such as Panera Bread. The $20 wage would start April 1 and a council would have the power to raise it each year through 2029.

Ingrid Vilorio, a fast-food worker at a Jack In The Box in the San Francisco Bay Area, said the increase in salary next year will bring some relief to her family, who until recently was sharing a house with two other families to afford rent.

The agreement ends an tense standoff between labor unions and the fast food industry that started last year when Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law creating a Fast Food Council with the authority to raise wages of fast food workers up to $22 per hour. California’s current minimum wage for all industries in the state is $15.50 per hour.

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