The Economic Policy Institute, National Employment Law Project, and 38 other organizations have signed a letter urging lawmakers to pass the FAST Recovery Act in California, which would guarantee fast-food workers the ability to shape industrywide workplace standards and give them the power to hold corporations accountable for sticking to those standards. The signatories include a coalition of workers’ rights advocates, labor experts, and civil rights groups from across the country. Read the letter here.

“The FAST Recovery Act is an important step toward improving many of the issues facing California’s fast-food workforce, and crucially, invites the workers who are experts on their workplaces into the process of designing solutions,” the letter states. “We respectfully urge California’s Assembly and Senate members to vote AYE on this legislation in January 2022.”

The letter continues: “The Fast-Food Sector Council would improve working conditions for half a million California cooks and cashiers, help responsible businesses compete on a fair and level playing field, and ensure that the wealthy corporations do their part.”

California legislators must do their part to empower and protect working Californians like those in the fast-food industry.