Defend the Right to Lunch Breaks

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is attempting to take away the right to a lunch break, a right that California workers have enjoyed since 1947. Gov. Schwarzenegger's new rules say that employers merely have to "inform" workers of their right to a lunch break, but don't have to actually provide the break. The new rule, a huge gift to companies like Wal-Mart, would make it much harder to enforce meal break requirements. Although meal breaks are protected in Local 1245 labor agreements, strong language in state law helps prevent employers from attacking these protections during contract negotiations. Let's tell the governor we expect him to defend our right to meal breaks!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Meal breaks at work

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Meal breaks at work aren't a privilege--they are a necessity and a right. As a working person, I strongly disagree with your effort to weaken the meal break requirement and I urge you to stop your efforts to weaken the right to a meal break at work.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 16, 2005

Background Information

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks state laws protecting workers’ meal breaks are too hard on employers. He feels so strongly about this he tried to abolish the meal break requirement by declaring an “emergency.”

Existing language on lunch breaks under the Industrial Welfare Commission is very clear, stating: “An employee must receive a thirty-minute meal period for every 5 hours of work.” Gov. Schwarzenegger’s revised language would provide a legal loophole that gives employers a way out of providing lunch breaks—employers would claim to have fulfilled their legal requirements by simply informing workers about the right to a lunch period, even if they didn’t actually provide one.

Another proposed change is a straight giveaway to the governor’s largest business allies. It reduces the amount of time that employers can be held liable for refusing to provide breaks (from three years down to one year), which means that Wal-Mart and other companies that are being sued for cheating their workers out of lunch breaks would get out of suits they are currently facing. Wal-Mart alone donated over $155,000 to the Republican Party and Gov. Schwarzenegger this year.

The public outcry over Schwarzenegger’s attempt to push through “emergency” regulations forced the governor to back off and hold public hearings. Local 1245 was represented at hearings in San Francisco on Feb. 8.

Although meal breaks are protected in Local 1245 labor agreements, strong language in state law helps prevent employers from attacking these protections during contract negotiations—making it possible for Local 1245 to give priority to other issues like wages, pensions and health benefits.

Tell the Governor to keep his hands off of worker meal breaks. A meal break isn’t a privilege—it’s a necessity.