A new report has found that 4 in 5 fast-food workers (82%) in California who are concerned about their immigration status are less likely to file labor complaints.
Conducted by the California Fast Food Workers Union in collaboration with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the survey of 405 workers across more than 200 locations also revealed that 63% of respondents did not know they had the legal right to report workplace violations regardless of immigration status.
According to worker rights attorney Yunuen Trujillo, in an interview with San Jose Spotlight, many foreign-born workers, whether undocumented or not, are unfamiliar with their protections under labor laws. "If we then narrow it down to undocumented workers, most of the time they don't know that employment laws actually do protect them. We see that mirrored in the report."
While the California Fast Food Workers Union has succeeded in legislative efforts—most notably with the passage of Assembly Bill 1228, which raised the fast-food minimum wage to $20 an hour and established a Fast Food Council—the report shows that legislative wins alone are not enough to protect workers.
The findings align with a broader national trend of immigrant fear in accessing public services. Across sectors, from labor to health care, immigrant communities are forgoing necessary services due to concerns about immigration enforcement. A New York Times report also published on Thursday revealed that health workers nationwide report a drop in immigrant patients, including those needing urgent care, out of fear that seeking help could lead to deportation.
As the NYT report explains:
"If the trend continues, health care officials say, the list of consequences could be long: Infectious diseases circulating unnecessarily; worsening health care costs because of untreated chronic illnesses; and dangerous birth complications for women who wait too long to seek help, among others"
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