Contact: press@californiafastfoodworkersunion.org

Union cooks and cashiers on Monday call on fast food corporations across California to take steps to protect the freedom and safety of workers and customers amid a “moment of extreme terror and intimidation” among the communities’ fast food restaurants serve and rely on. The demand comes as border patrol, ICE and other unidentified masked federal agents ramp up raids targeting people based on their skin color, the jobs they do and the language they speak, in apparent defiance of the federal Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against those tactics, which were deemed unconstitutional and violations of the 4th amendment.

In a letter addressed to California’s fast food companies, cooks and cashiers organizing with the California Fast Food Workers Union shared their deep concern about the federal government’s unconstitutional racially motivated actions across the state in recent months, which has created an atmosphere of fear that penetrates all aspects of life for many Angelenos, including going to their jobs at fast food restaurants.

“In this moment of extreme terror and intimidation, we’re asking you to take action to keep workers, customers and the communities you serve safe,” wrote the fast food workers. “We have the opportunity to demonstrate how responsible corporate citizens and working people can work together to ensure our lives and businesses are not interrupted during this unique and perilous moment in history.”

The union fast food workers pointed to three discrete steps that employers across the industry can take to better ensure the safety and freedoms of their workers and customers:

1. Implement the Constitutional Pledge to Protect California Workers’ Rights, which lays out steps for keeping ICE and other federal agents from going where they are legally not allowed, protect workers’ privacy and ensure workers’ safety. 

2. Ensure workers and managers are trained in complying with the Pledge.

3. Support legislation establishing annual workers’ know-your-rights training programs provided by trusted, independent trainers in the restaurants you operate or franchise across California, including the programs fast food workers are advocating for in Los Angeles and Santa Clara County.

“Fast food companies have a chance to show the world what it looks like to stand up for the right of every individual to feel safe where we work and where we eat,” said Candida M., a Los Angeles fast food worker. “When an ICE raid happened just blocks away from our store, all my coworkers were so scared. I was the only person trained on how to safely respond  if they showed up at our store. It takes a lot of courage just to go to work right now. We need our bosses to show some courage too. We’re asking our bosses to proudly stand with us on the side of freedom and justice, and make sure we all know our rights and how to keep each other safe, especially if federal agents continue to detain people based on how they look or the jobs they do.”

California Fast-Food Workers Unite to Fight for Industry-Wide Improvements 

With more than 557,000 workers across more than 30,000 locations, California’s fast food industry stands out as one of the state’s largest, fastest growing low-wage sectors. In Los Angeles, 90 percent of fast-food workers are people of color and 70 percent are women. Meanwhile, the state’s fast food industry is defined by its “race to the bottom” business model in which stores operate under tight margins at the expense of worker safety, pay, training, scheduling, staffing and more.

After a yearslong campaign, the minimum wage for fast food workers in California increased to $20/hr on April 1, 2024.  Since the increase, studies have shown no job losses, no cut hours and minimal price increases. 

In Los Angeles and Santa Clara County, fast food workers are advocating for their local elected officials to advance a Fast Food Fair Work Ordinance, which would address longstanding issues in the city’s fast food industry through compensated know-your-rights” trainings. The measure would also help ensure fair scheduling and paid time off benefits. 

“You depend on us to feed your customers and make your stores successful, and we depend on you to earn the living we need to care for our families,” the fast food workers continued in their letter. “You can be a leader in the industry and ensure the on-the-job safety of the cooks and cashiers who work in the stores you operate and those you franchise. Together we can protect the business we all depend on.”