Referendum on Calif. fast food council headed to ballot
Business groups said Monday that their petition to repeal California’s powerful new fast food council has gathered more than enough signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.
Business groups said Monday that their petition to repeal California’s powerful new fast food council has gathered more than enough signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.
Opponents of the council needed to gather some 623,000 signatures. They’ve gathered over a million, according to a press release from the International Franchise Association, a trade group backing the referendum effort.
“The FAST Act is one of the single most damaging pieces of legislation for local restaurants and California consumers,” IFA President and CEO Matthew Haller said in a statement. Haller said the law isn’t necessary and will push up the price of restaurant meals.
California’s fast food council was authorized this summer and has yet to convene. Once up and running, it will be able set minimum health and safety standards for large fast-food chains.
Labor leaders and their allies backed the law and hailed its passage as a major victory for working people. They say that the council model will improve working conditions by offering an alternative to traditional collective bargaining.
But business groups immediately launched a referendum campaign to get the law repealed. Fast-food industry leaders also are worried that other left-leaning state legislatures will set up similar councils.
Service Employees International Union leaders have filed complaints with the California Attorney General and Secretary of State alleging that the referendum campaign has deceived voters.
Now they’re calling on lawmakers to fix the referendum process.
“California’s referendum process has been completely taken over by corporations who think they can buy the right to overturn laws they don’t like and exempt themselves from accountability,” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement Monday. “Lawmakers must take a serious look at the referendum process and consider meaningful changes to ensure the referendum process reflects the will of Californians, not multinational, billion-dollar corporations.”