bRe:  3.4–Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.

Your voice is needed to show that San Jose stands in solidarity with fast food workers during the City Council meeting on June 11, 2024. Budgets are a statement of values, and our City Council needs to know that San Jose values include protecting our most vulnerable workers.

• The link to the agenda can be found HERE
• The Item is 3.4–Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.

• Please be sure to appreciate the inclusion of 'Know Your Rights' training and paid time off for fast food workers in the budget, and voice your appreciation for Vice Mayor Kamei’s memorandum that moves this forward.

• Not sure if you can attend? Send in an email to City Council using THIS link

Arrive at San Jose City Hall (200 E Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95113) and take the elevator to floor 2 (Council Chambers). Once inside the chambers, fill out a speaker card, and wait for your name to be called during Item 3.3. The following information is a helpful guide for putting together your short 1-2 minute public comment once your name is called.

TALKING POINTS

Main Call To Action

• Thank you Vice Mayor Kamei' and Mayor Mahan for advancing long overdue rights for fast food workers in the June Message— a critical part of fighting wage theft, and housing instability in our city. City budgets are a statement of values, and our budget should reflect that we are committed to empowering all working people

Key Messages

1. Knowledge is Power: Despite existing wage protections, many workers are kept in the dark about their rights, and progress such as the statewide minimum wage. 85% of fast food workers report experiencing wage theft.^[1] By supporting long overdue rights such as 'Know Your Rights' training and paid time off for fast food workers, the city council can take a significant step towards empowering workers and ensuring that statewide wins and policy efforts translate into tangible benefits for our community.
2. Fair treatment of workers leads to economic stability and prosperity for all in San José. 'Know Your Rights' training will empower workers to advocate for fair compensation, and stable working conditions, and subsequently strengthen housing security for more than 13,000 San José residents. Paid time off will enable workers to spend time with their families, and attend to personal emergencies without risking their livelihoods.

• 1 in 9 unhoused California workers is employed in fast-food^[2].
• Even with the increased minimum wage, fast food workers face a daunting reality in San Jose, where the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment hovers around $2,500. Allocating over 30% of their income to housing leaves them precariously perched on the edge of financial instability— a single unexpected expense could easily trigger a cascade of missed rent payments, leading to eviction and potential homelessness.

3. Providing Know Your Rights training and paid time off for fast food workers, will not raise the price of food or cause franchisees to go out of business.

• We’re talking about a billion dollar industry that can and should afford to invest in the training and education of its workers. By stabilizing fast-food work in our city, we can strengthen retention, increase employment and improve the overall economy.
• The notion that living wages or paid training have to result in price hikes for the public is nonsense. Fast-food corporations don’t need to raise prices more – they have already raised prices a lot. McDonald’s has raised prices more than 20 percent in the last two years: a 10 percent increase in 2023 on top of a 10 percent increase in 2022.
• This is price-gouging, plain and simple. Big corporations are trying to rip consumers off because they think they can get away with it.

4. The statewide minimum wage for fast food workers will benefit San José’s workers — but only if workers are informed and updated of their rights.  

• San Jose is home to one of the largest populations of fast-food workers in the state. Recent regulatory complaints, news stories and worker strikes suggest a high level of violations that we need to work to address urgently.
• A new report from the Step Forward Foundation revealed that the vast majority — 88 percent — of California fast-food workers do not know their rights on the job and broadly lack information about essential benefits and programs.
• The City of San Jose is uniquely positioned to close this knowledge gap and pass model legislation that lays out labor standards that can be replicated across the state — ensuring that not a single fast food worker is excluded from this progress.

BACKGROUND

With nearly 13,000 cooks and cashiers, working across more than 700 locations, San José’s fast food industry contributes substantially to the city’s workforce and economy. However, San José fast food workers grapple with precarious working conditions and unpredictable schedules in the City’s service sector. The industry’s poor working conditions have ripple effects across our communities — especially impacting women who make up two-thirds of California's fast food workers and people of color who account for 80% of all fast food workers. Improving conditions in San José’s fast food industry can be an important step toward chipping away at economic and racial inequity which is at the root of many of the issues we face as a city.

A report by Step Forward Foundation revealed that the majority of fast food workers are never informed of their rights or updated on changes to labor laws that protect them.

• 93% of workers surveyed have not heard about or do not know how to access most key benefits and programs that they or their families may be entitled to including paid sick leave, paid family leave, disability insurance and workers’ compensation.
• 89% have not heard about or don’t know how to access their right to paid family leave.
• 83%  have not heard about or don’t know how to access workers’ compensation.
• 80% have not heard about or don’t know how to access disability insurance.
• 73% do not know how much additional pay they are entitled to if they are forced to work through a meal break or rest breaks.
• Not one fast food worker surveyed knows all the circumstances under which they are able to take paid sick leave.

Businesses opposing providing basic 'Know Your Rights' training and paid time off to their workers are likely engaged in exploitative practices, and we must ensure that our city empowers workers rather than keeping them in the dark. San José must send a clear message to businesses: we prioritize the empowerment of workers and uphold fairness and equity for all. Prioritizing the empowerment of workers and rejecting corporate manipulation fosters genuine economic revitalization, reduces wealth inequality, and promotes neighborhood prosperity.

The fast industry claims this will hurt small businesses and minorities, but in reality:

• Only one-third of franchise owners in the sector that includes fast food are members of racial minority groups^[3],
• women own barely 1/7 of franchised fast-food businesses.
• Black business people own 2 percent of franchised businesses in the sector and employ less than 1% of the workers.
• Latina/Latino business people own 4.5% of franchised food service/drinking places businesses and employ only 2.3% of the workers.

About The Fast Food Fair Work Ordinance

The Fast Food Fair Work Ordinance aims to solve the rampant labor law violations by providing training to workers so they know how they can enforce their legal rights, receive the unpaid wages they’re due, and obtain never-before received paid time off to better address their needs and sustain their families.  The Fast Food Fair Work Ordinance guarantees workers:

• ‘KNOW YOUR RIGHTS’ TRAINING: Under the ordinance, fast food businesses must ensure employees attend an annual ‘Know Your Rights’ training provided by a trusted organization skilled in covering topics such as wage theft, paid leave, and the right to safe, secure workplaces free of discrimination, sexual harassment or retaliation for speaking up. Workers who attend the training will be compensated for the time.

• PAID TIME OFF BENEFITS: The ordinance allows workers to earn one hour of paid time off for every 30 hours worked, approximately 8 days per year.

PUBLIC COMMENT TIPS

Only speak during the agenda item that pertains to your comment

• If you attempt to provide comment before or after the item, the mayor or chairperson will cut you off. It is possible that we will each only have one (1) minute to speak, so writing your comment beforehand and practicing it may help you stay on time.
• State upfront who you are, your connection to San José and what you are speaking for:

• “Hello, my name is ________ and I am from ________ and a member of the  ________.
• I’m here to support ________.

• State why you are supporting this or the values that brought you here - you can choose from the Key Messages below.
• Include your main calls to action again

Please refer to our Guide to Participating in San José City Council Meetings for more information.