California fast food workers to get $20 per hour if minimum wage bill passes

An estimated 1 million fast food and healthcare workers in California are set to get a major raise after a deal was announced earlier this week between labor unions and industries.

Under the new bill, most of California's 500,000 fast food workers would be paid at least $20 per hour in 2024.

A separate bill will increase health care workers' salaries to at least $25 per hour over the next 10 years. The salary bump impacts about 455,000 workers who work at hospitals dialysis clinics and other facilities, but not doctors and nurses.

Other than Washington, DC, Washington state has the highest minimum wage of any state in the country at $15.74 per hour, followed by California at $15.50.

How much will pay change for fast food workers?

Assembly Bill 1228 would increase minimum wage to $20 per hour for workers at restaurants in the state that have at least 60 locations nationwide. The only exception applies to restaurants that make and sell their own bread, such as Panera Bread.

How much will pay change for health care workers?

Under the proposed bill, minimum wage salaries vary depending on the clinic: Salaries of employees at large health care facilities and dialysis clinics will have a minimum wage of $23 an hour next year. Their pay will gradually increase to $25 an hour by 2026. Workers employed at rural hospitals with high volumes of patients covered by Medicaid will be paid a minimum wage of $18 an hour next year, with a 3.5% increase each year until wages reach $25 an hour in 2033.

Wages for employees at community clinics will increase to $21 an hour next year and then bump up to $25 an hour in 2027. For workers at all other covered health care facilities, minimum wage will increase to $21 an hour next year before reaching $25 an hour by 2028.

Are the bills expected to pass?

The proposed bills must go through California's state legislature and then be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bills have already been endorsed by both labor unions and fast food and health care industry groups and are expected to pass this week.

The state assembly also voted to advance a proposal to give striking workers unemployment benefits — a policy change that could eventually benefit Hollywood actors and writers and Los Angeles-area hotel workers who have been on strike for much of this year.

A win for low-wage workers

Enrique Lopezlira, director of the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center’s Low Wage Work Program told AP News that in California, most fast food workers are over 18 and the main providers for their families. And a study from the University's Labor Center found that a little more than three-fourths of health care workers in California are women, and 76% are workers of color.

How does minimum wage compare by state?

Fifteen states have laws in place that make minimum wages equivalent to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, according to the Department of Labor. Another five states have no minimum wage laws.

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