Unlike most wage boards, sectoral councils are empowered to make recommendations on a broad range of interrelated issues, such as compensation, safety, and training, rather than focusing on a single problem such as low wages. Sectoral councils-which are related to wage boards but more robust-bring together key players in an industry to make recommendations covering all workers and firms in that industry. Enabling workers and employers to bring their experiences and voices into the process and have ongoing roles in setting standards is critical to achieving transformational change and improving fast-food jobs. A sectoral council would also help engage workers so they can promote high standards and ensure that employers comply with these standards. It would not only raise wages, benefits, and safety standards for workers-regardless of whether they are directly employed by a lead firm or a franchisee-but also provide a forum for workers and employers to influence the standards in their industry, enabling franchisees to compete on a level playing field. This important step could help build a new model of standard-setting for the fast-food industry and the country.Ī fast-food sectoral council is well-suited to address the industry’s challenges and could form the backbone of fundamental change in the sector by benefiting both workers and employers. 1 A sectoral council brings together representatives of workers, employers, and the public to make recommendations regarding minimum compensation, safety, scheduling stability, and training standards for the industry. Setting and enforcing high standards in the industry is particularly challenging: It is heavily franchised, many small employers in the industry have little ability to profitably raise standards, and most workers are not unionized, making the fast-food sector in urgent need of improvement.Ĭalifornia can take action at the state level to address these problems and improve the lives of the state’s more than half a million fast-food workers by creating a sectoral council, as called for in the proposed FAST Recovery Act. Fast-food workers across the United States, often adults living in or close to poverty, typically earn very low wages with few benefits and experience poor working conditions.

Pronlems with quality fast food