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Tag: Service Employees International Union

  • Judge temporarily blocks California fast food wages law

    Judge temporarily blocks California fast food wages law

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state of California from implementing a landmark new law aimed at raising wages and improving working conditions for fast food workers.

    Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang’s order came in response to a lawsuit by restaurant industry groups that are seeking a referendum on the November 2024 ballot in a bid to overturn the law.

    The law establishes a 10-member council empowered to set minimum wages as well as standards for hours and working conditions for California’s fast food workers.

    State and county elections officials are still verifying whether the referendum proposal received enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, a determination expected by the end of January. If that happens, the law would be halted from taking effect until voters weigh in.

    In the meantime, the state Department of Industrial Relations said it plans to begin implementing the law on Sunday. That could include clearing the way for appointments to the Fast Food Council. But any wage increases or other changes couldn’t take effect until at least October, meaning the law would have no immediate impact on worker pay.

    The International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association said state law requires the state to sit tight until the status of the referendum is determined. The industry groups submitted more than 1 million signatures from voters in support of the referendum, well above the roughly 620,000 required by state law.

    “California bureaucrats, at the behest of special interests, are taking an unprecedented step to violate their Constitution and the will of more than one million voters who asked for the Fast Food Council to be stopped via the referendum process,” Matt Haller, chief executive officer and president of the International Franchise Association, said in a statement.

    The Service Employees International Union, which drove support for the creation of the council, blasted the lawsuit and several companies by name, including McDonald’s, Chipotle and Starbucks.

    “This cowardly tactic comes right out of the corporate playbook Californians have, unfortunately, come to know too well,” said Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, in a statement.

    “When corporations fail to halt progressive legislation in the legislature, they pivot to bankrolling ballot measures in an attempt to circumvent democracy and the will of the people,” she added.

    If the signature drive doesn’t qualify for a referendum and the law moves forward, fast food wages could be raised as high as $22 an hour by the end of 2023. California’s minimum wage for all workers is set to rise to $15.50 an hour starting Sunday.

    Chang, the judge, scheduled a hearing on the matter for Jan. 13. She also wrote that restaurant groups have failed to prove they properly served the state with the lawsuit, and she ordered them to do so.

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  • Airport Workers Protest Unfair Working Conditions And Push For Legislative Action

    Airport Workers Protest Unfair Working Conditions And Push For Legislative Action

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    Thousands of airport workers across the country protested unfair wages and labor practices on Thursday and demanded that Congress take action to protect them.

    Airport services workers, including baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, janitors, security guards and wheelchair attendants rallied in 15 cities across the U.S. to demand better working conditions and living wages, according to the Service Employees International Union. Workers in three major hubs ― Chicago, Boston and Newark ― went on strike.

    The latest action comes nearly nine months after airport workers staged major protests nationwide over their working conditions.

    “We’re calling on Congress to get major airlines to make sure that they invest in frontline workers all across this country,” SEIU president Mary Kay Henry said in a video for the union’s Twitter.

    The wages of airport service workers have been near the poverty level for decades, according to SEIU. Verna Montalvo, a cabin cleaner at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, said during a Thursday news conference on Capitol Hill that people work overtime just to make ends meet, but even then, the pay is still “not enough.”

    “Airport workers like me and working people all across the economy are fed up. Without us, no one could travel safely to visit their families over the holidays,” Montalvo said in a separate statement shared by SEIU. “Seeing smiles on passengers’ faces gives me a huge sense of pride, but it comes at a huge cost when I can’t support my own family on poverty wages.”

    Airport service workers have been asking corporations for living wages, affordable health care, sick days and other protections since the beginning of the pandemic, SEIU said in a statement.

    Workers urged Congress to hold corporations accountable through the Good Jobs For Good Airports Act, which would require all major airports that receive federal funding to set minimum wage and benefit standards.

    The legislation was introduced in June by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jesús García (D-Ill.).

    “Airport workers risked their own health and the safety of their families to keep America moving during the pandemic. The least we can do is ensure they have good wages, decent benefits, and safe working conditions,” García said in a statement at the time.

    Markey and other members of Congress joined workers and allies at their press conference.

    “If the federal government is giving $11 billion to the airports of our country, they have to share it with the workers at the airport,” Markey said. “They must get the benefits from the federal money which we put in. That’s what we’re going to fight for and that’s what we’re going to make the law of the United States of America.”

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