California lawmakers in the Assembly on Monday passed a new set of exemptions from the state’s new fast food labor law that has been at the center of controversy because of the secrecy surrounding its creation. The new law will require most major fast-food restaurants in California to pay their workers a minimum of $20 an hour starting in April and require most of the industry to follow pay raises and worker protections that will be set by a new state council. The legislation approved Monday will exempt fast food restaurants in airports, hotels, convention centers, arenas, museums, casinos and college campuses. Lawmakers noted those workers already have collective bargaining agreements that include benefits and higher pay than the state’s new minimum wage for fast food workers. The exemptions will apply immediately once the governor signs the bill. “We’re trying not to stifle their ability to go above that on compensation,” the bill’s author and Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden said on the Assembly floor. Sources who spoke to KCRA 3 on the condition they remained anonymous said Monday’s action was the result of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) use of non-disclosure agreements in the final negotiations of the fast-food labor law, known as the FAST Recovery Act. SEIU required the fast-food industry representatives to sign the NDA’s to build trust during a contentious discussion on how to move forward with the legislation last summer. As a result, SEIU kept other labor groups out of the final negotiations. Because the result of those negotiations was made public three days before the end of the legislative session last year, other labor groups with collective bargaining agreements learned too late they would be roped into the law. That prompted Holden to promise to provide the exemptions this year, sources said. Holden, who wrote the law, has admitted he was not involved in the final negotiations of the labor law and said Gov. Newsom’s office leads those talks. He weighed in on Monday. “I can’t comment on NDAs, but I can say at the end of the last session, for a particular labor group, this was going to limit their ability to bargain,” Holden said. Holden said that the group, Unite Here, did not express any concerns that it was left out of negotiations last summer. “I think a lot of times this process happens, maybe not everyone is following it as it happens,” he said. In a written statement on Friday, SEIU California called KCRA 3’s reporting on the use of non-disclosure agreements “a nothingburger made of innuendo and hype” and said the reporting “fails to distinguish between conversations taking place between private parties and the public process by which a bill becomes a law.” The organization has not responded to repeated follow up requests for comment. While lawmakers have been able to explain why the new exemptions were required Monday, a different carveout remains a mystery. The SEIU’s use of the NDAs came to light as Gov. Gavin Newsom faced claims he pushed for a special exemption for restaurants that produce and sell their own bread as a standalone menu item. A growing number of sources told KCRA 3 this exemption was to benefit one of the governor’s billionaire donors, Greg Flynn, who operates two dozen Panera restaurants in California. Newsom’s administration has said the exemption does not apply to Panera but has yet to specify which restaurants it would apply to. Flynn has said he will raise the minimum wage at his Panera restaurants to $20 an hour starting in April but has not said if he’s planning on fully complying with the law that does much more than raising wages next month. Panera, the corporation, has not said if the law applies to its restaurants. Republican state lawmakers did not criticize the specific new exemptions passed on Monday but criticized the secrecy surrounding the law as a whole. “The process that happened last year stink. It’s not legislation when all of the negotiations happen behind closed doors and there’s no transparency,” Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher said. “We have a serious problem, that’s not transparency, that’s not how this is supposed to happen.” Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong has introduced legislation to prohibit the use of NDAs in legislative negotiations.
California lawmakers in the Assembly on Monday passed a new set of exemptions from the state’s new fast food labor law that has been at the center of controversy because of the secrecy surrounding its creation.
The new law will require most major fast-food restaurants in California to pay their workers a minimum of $20 an hour starting in April and require most of the industry to follow pay raises and worker protections that will be set by a new state council.
The legislation approved Monday will exempt fast food restaurants in airports, hotels, convention centers, arenas, museums, casinos and college campuses. Lawmakers noted those workers already have collective bargaining agreements that include benefits and higher pay than the state’s new minimum wage for fast food workers. The exemptions will apply immediately once the governor signs the bill.
“We’re trying not to stifle their ability to go above that on compensation,” the bill’s author and Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden said on the Assembly floor.
Sources who spoke to KCRA 3 on the condition they remained anonymous said Monday’s action was the result of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) use of non-disclosure agreements in the final negotiations of the fast-food labor law, known as the FAST Recovery Act. SEIU required the fast-food industry representatives to sign the NDA’s to build trust during a contentious discussion on how to move forward with the legislation last summer. As a result, SEIU kept other labor groups out of the final negotiations.
Because the result of those negotiations was made public three days before the end of the legislative session last year, other labor groups with collective bargaining agreements learned too late they would be roped into the law. That prompted Holden to promise to provide the exemptions this year, sources said.
Holden, who wrote the law, has admitted he was not involved in the final negotiations of the labor law and said Gov. Newsom’s office leads those talks. He weighed in on Monday.
“I can’t comment on NDAs, but I can say at the end of the last session, for a particular labor group, this was going to limit their ability to bargain,” Holden said.
Holden said that the group, Unite Here, did not express any concerns that it was left out of negotiations last summer.
“I think a lot of times this process happens, maybe not everyone is following it as it happens,” he said.
In a written statement on Friday, SEIU California called KCRA 3’s reporting on the use of non-disclosure agreements “a nothingburger made of innuendo and hype” and said the reporting “fails to distinguish between conversations taking place between private parties and the public process by which a bill becomes a law.” The organization has not responded to repeated follow up requests for comment.
While lawmakers have been able to explain why the new exemptions were required Monday, a different carveout remains a mystery.
The SEIU’s use of the NDAs came to light as Gov. Gavin Newsom faced claims he pushed for a special exemption for restaurants that produce and sell their own bread as a standalone menu item. A growing number of sources told KCRA 3 this exemption was to benefit one of the governor’s billionaire donors, Greg Flynn, who operates two dozen Panera restaurants in California.
Newsom’s administration has said the exemption does not apply to Panera but has yet to specify which restaurants it would apply to. Flynn has said he will raise the minimum wage at his Panera restaurants to $20 an hour starting in April but has not said if he’s planning on fully complying with the law that does much more than raising wages next month. Panera, the corporation, has not said if the law applies to its restaurants.
Republican state lawmakers did not criticize the specific new exemptions passed on Monday but criticized the secrecy surrounding the law as a whole.
“The process that happened last year stink. It’s not legislation when all of the negotiations happen behind closed doors and there’s no transparency,” Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher said. “We have a serious problem, that’s not transparency, that’s not how this is supposed to happen.”
Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong has introduced legislation to prohibit the use of NDAs in legislative negotiations.