L.A. fast food workers call on city officials to approve 'fair work week' law
A group of Los Angeles fast food workers walked off the job Tuesday to urge city officials to approve a law that would give them more control over their work schedules.
Fast food workers have long complained of unstable schedules that make it difficult to plan their finances, child care, medical appointments and other obligations.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced an ordinance last year that aims to give these workers more stability and consistency in scheduling, but the council has yet to vote on the measure.
The proposal would expand the reach of the city's existing Fair Work Week law — which requires that employers give retail workers their schedules in advance — to include some 2,500 large chain fast food restaurants that employ roughly 50,000 workers.
More than 60 fast food workers rallied outside City Hall at around 11 a.m. Tuesday sporting purple union T-shirts and carrying "on strike" signs printed in Spanish and English.
The rally was planned by California's statewide union of fast food workers, which formed last year. The California Fast Food Workers Union is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, which for years has helped to organize fast food employee walkouts over wage theft, safety and pay.
Lizzet Aguilar, 44, a cashier at a McDonald's in the downtown L.A. area, said she was scheduled for a three-hour shift Tuesday that she skipped to join the rally.
Aguilar said she was scheduled to work only two days this week, with each shift just three hours long.
Having so few hours, she said, makes it difficult to contribute to her household finances and care for her 10-year-old son, whom she brought with her to the rally.
"This isn't fair. We can't survive on this," she said.
Several workers from a Wingstop in Westwood also participated in the rally.
Edgar Recinos, 32, a cook at the Wingstop who earns $20 an hour, said he struggles to pay his rent when his schedule and hours change weekly.
Recinos said he was scheduled last week for 30 hours, but this week he's scheduled for 17 hours, he said, adding that he works a second job at a smoothie store.
"It makes no sense," Recinos said. "It's an unstable situation."
The tentative ordinance also includes an annual mandatory six-hour paid training to help educate workers on their rights. And it would require that fast food workers accrue an hour of paid time off for every 30 hours they work — on top of paid sick leave to which they are already entitled.
The Fast Food Workers Union cited a recent report published by labor researchers at Northwestern and Rutgers that found 1 in 4 fast food workers were illegally paid below the minimum wage. Additionally, these workers lose almost $3,500 a year, or about 16% of their income, because of this persistent wage theft in the industry, the report said.
Legislation related to boosting worker protections typically doesn't face substantial opposition from the L.A. City Council. However, the process can take time and the matter must first be heard by the council's economic development and jobs committee before going to the full city council for a vote.
A measure to boost wages for hotel and airport workers, for example, was introduced by city councilmembers in April 2023 and was finally approved more than a year and a half later, in December 2024.
Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
6 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Raids in Southern California rattle immigrant communities — including those in the US legally
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jacob Vasquez began working at a clothing warehouse in Los Angeles soon after arriving from Mexico less than three years ago. He is among dozens of workers detained by federal immigration authorities in a series of raids in LA's fashion district and at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. More than 100 people have been detained. The raids have triggered days of turbulent protests across the city and beyond and led President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to the LA area, the latest development in the administration's immigration crackdown. Protests in the city's downtown have ranged from peaceful to raucous, with demonstrators blocking a major freeway and setting cars on fire over the weekend. Immigrant advocates say the workers who were detained do not have criminal histories and are being denied their due process rights. Vasquez has a three-month-old baby, according to his family who spoke to reporters outside the Ambiance Apparel warehouse, a clothing company founded in 1999, and where the young father worked. 'Jacob is a family man and the sole breadwinner of his household,' said his brother Gabriel, speaking in Spanish during a news conference Monday. He doesn't know if he's OK, he later said in an interview. 'We don't know where he is.' About 10% of LA County residents do not have legal immigration status Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the raids and the deployment of troops, saying Tuesday that the actions were aimed at intimidating the area's vast immigrant population, one of the country's largest. She said she has heard even immigrants with legal status are being swept up and that the raids may continue for months. An estimated 950,000 people in Los Angeles County do not have legal immigration status, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That is about a tenth of the county's population, and they include cooks, nannies, hotel employees, street vendors, gardeners, construction workers and garment workers. 'Families across the city are terrified,' Bass said. 'They don't know if they should go to work, they don't know if they should go to school.' She said many of those detained have had no contact with their loved ones or lawyers. The raids have only fueled unrest in the city, Bass said. 'They were going to go after violent felons, drug dealers, and I don't know how that matches with the scenes that we saw of people outside Home Depot running through the parking lot, because they were afraid that they were going to get arrested,' she said. Saraí Ortiz said her father, Jose, worked for Ambiance for 18 years. 'It was really painful to see him arrested on Friday with his co-workers,' she told the crowd in Spanish. A judge signed a search warrant that there was probable cause to conclude that Ambiance was using fake documents for some workers, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not shared details about the arrests. 'Ambience Apparel has never created any fictitious documents for its workers,' Benjamin N. Gluck, an attorney representing the company, said in a statement. 'The company obeys, and continues to obey, all applicable laws. We support our workforce, many of whom have worked faithfully for the company for decades.' The Trump administration did not respond to emails from The Associated Press asking about whether any of the immigrants detained in the raids had criminal records. Day laborer makes sure to show his green card Los Angeles is one of the nation's largest garment-production hubs with more than 45,000 workers, mostly Latino and Asian immigrants, who cut, sew and finish the clothing, according to the Garment Worker Center. The raids are deepening fears far beyond LA and even among those who are in the country legally, immigrants said. Jot Condie, president and chief executive of the California Restaurant Association, said the fear is keeping away workers and hurting businesses. In LA County last year, food and drink services were a $30 billion industry. Outside a Home Depot in Santa Ana, California, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, a handful of day laborers leaned against their cars waiting to be hired Tuesday, a day after armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers drove up and sent many of the workers running. Junior Ortega, 43, said he saw four people arrested by ICE, while others fled on foot or jumped into a car and peeled out of the parking lot before they were caught. 'They came out with guns, (saying) 'don't move,' '' Ortega said in Spanish. By then, the Honduran citizen who has lived nearly three decades in the U.S. said he had already taken out his green card to avoid making any sudden moves should agents approach him. One of the agents did, and while holding a gun, demanded to see his ID, Ortega said. After he showed it, he said the agent let him go. The day laborer said he recently started carrying not only his driver's license but his green card with him. While he is not directly affected by the immigration raids, Ortega said they still weigh on him and his children. 'Why don't they go and follow the gang members?' he said. 'They are coming for people who do things for the country, who pay taxes.' _____ Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Associated Press writer Julie Watson contributed to this report from San Diego, California.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Laramie County sheriff secures first agreement allowing deputies to act as ICE agents
CHEYENNE — Some deputies with the Laramie County Sheriff's Office will now be authorized to interrogate and process suspected undocumented immigrants per an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 287(g) Jail Enforcement Agreement. On May 20, LCSO joined agencies in more than 40 states officially participating in the Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), one of three models offered to local law enforcement that empower officers to act as ICE agents, with some limitations. Named for Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), these agreements allow ICE to delegate some of its responsibilities to state and local law enforcement officers. LCSO is pursuing all three agreements available to law enforcement, including the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) model and the Task Force Model (TFM), both of which are pending approval. 'Our focus on investigations for immigration is going to be kept to traffic stops and on the interstates for interdiction, or if you wind up in jail,' Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Friday. 'Our policy is going to be pretty clear that our deputies, when they go to a call or do an investigation, do not ask about immigration status.' Regardless of Kozak's intent, these programs have been heavily criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others for potential financial and civil rights consequences, relying on law enforcement to do ICE's job at the expense of services to locals. Each agreement requires local law enforcement to take on different immigration tasks typically associated with ICE, said ACLU of Wyoming Senior Staff Attorney Andrew Malone. Even though there is training required, it is not as rigorous as the training for full-time ICE agents. The financial, civil rights and local service risks associated with the program don't lessen by pursuing all three contracts, Malone said. 'People are receiving less training, (and) are doing this in addition to their regular jobs,' Malone said. 'The exact scope depends on which type of model, but by choosing to take on all three, you're just kind of multiplying the issues that come with taking on any one of these models.' While ACLU advocates point to several case studies that demonstrate these risks, Kozak says he doesn't see staffing or financial burdens being an issue. Kozak added that trust issues between immigrant communities and law enforcement exist regardless of the agreements. 'That's always been an issue, no matter what,' Kozak said. 'Even though we've tried outreach to try to tell people not to be afraid to call us, it's still a problem.' LCSO has a few Spanish-speaking deputies who work on outreach to Spanish-speaking communities. Two of those deputies will be certified with ICE through the 287(g) agreements, according to Kozak. The first MOA While the TFM and WSO agreements are still pending, the JEM agreement is in effect, allowing deputies to process 'removable aliens,' or immigrants who are suspected of violating immigration laws. Per the memorandum of agreement between LCSO and ICE, deputies assigned to detention duties will perform immigration-related tasks in addition to performing their normal duties. Under the direction and supervision of ICE, these deputies will have the authority to: * Interrogate any person held in the jail 'who the officer believes to be an alien about his or her right to remain in the United States.' * Process for immigration violations for those arrested on federal, state or local offenses. * Serve and execute warrants of arrest for immigration violations. * Administer oaths and take and consider evidence, including fingerprinting, photographing and interviewing suspected undocumented immigrants in custody. * Prepare charging documents, affidavits and take sworn statements for ICE supervisory review. * Detain and transport arrested immigrants subject to removal. Per the memorandum, LCSO is responsible for maintaining proper records and is required to notify ICE of a hold related to a suspected immigration violation within 24 hours. LCSO personnel are also required to 'report all encounters with asserted or suspected claims of U.S. citizenship to ICE immediately, but generally within one hour of the claim. From deputy to ICE agent Though he has reiterated the goal to maintain community trust and keep ICE actions restricted to the jail several times, Kozak has recently decided to pursue a contract that will give his deputies immigration authority outside of the jail, the 287(g) TFM. Kozak recently decided to pursue the more aggressive agreement after reflecting on his experience with law enforcement in Avon, Colorado. While in Avon, officers working with Kozak encountered two suspected violent offenders who were abusing approximately 18 victims of human trafficking. 'We asked ICE assistance in that case, and they would not assist,' Kozak said. 'We were almost ready to release the offenders because we had no authority to investigate the federal crimes.' After some pressure, Kozak said ICE eventually assisted. That was in the early 2000s, and now, Kozak says he wants to avoid that situation at all costs. 'I want our deputies who are doing human trafficking interdiction to be able to help victims and do everything all at once,' Kozak said. 'That's the main reason why I changed my mind about (TFM).' The TFM will allow deputies to be a 'force multiplier' in 'non-custodial settings,' essentially acting as ICE agents outside of the jail, which Kozak intends to utilize in drug and human trafficking interdiction operations. Now Kozak says that, assuming ICE is pursuing someone suspected of criminal offenses, deputies trained under the TFM agreement could potentially assist ICE with local operations. Task forces return under Trump While Kozak is hopeful that these deals will help build community trust, the 287(g) TFM has a history of civil rights abuses, particularly racial profiling, which caused it to be discontinued under the Obama administration, according to the ACLU. The option for TFM has only recently returned following an executive order from President Donald Trump in January titled 'Protecting the American People Against Invasion.' 'Depending on how each specific agreement is crafted and enforced, all three 287(g) models may expose local law enforcement agencies to potential liability for constitutional and legal violations,' two representatives of the ACLU of Wyoming wrote in an article published May 14. Despite the agreement's history, Kozak is still intent on utilizing it, pending ICE approval. 'We know I-80 (and) I-25 are the major corridors for human trafficking and drugs,' Kozak said. 'We just want to be effective in what we're doing, and … having our deputies certified to take action on all those issues.' Kozak added that often those involved in drug trafficking are also 'illegal aliens,' though data from the CATO Institute indicates that the majority of drug traffickers in the U.S. are citizens. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 'There is no single profile of a human trafficker; their only commonality is that they are driven by profit at the expense of others.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
🚨Official: Boca confirm Braida signing
Just minutes ago, Boca announced the arrival of Malcom Braida, as the final reinforcement for the Club World Cup. The club from La Ribera paid the termination clause that he had at San Lorenzo and the Cyclone pocketed 1.8 million dollars. The full-back signed a contract until December 2029. Advertisement Malcom joins Marco Pellegrino, who was announced today, as the Xeneize's additions in this transfer market. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.
