Business

Pizza Hut workers in L.A.'s Historic Filipinotown go on 3-day strike, alleging wage theft

Published

2 years ago

March 7, 2024

Pizza Hut workers in L.A.'s Historic Filipinotown go on 3-day strike, alleging wage theft

At a Pizza Hut restaurant in Historic Filipinotown, west of downtown Los Angeles, a slip of paper was taped Wednesday to the glass storefront announcing “STORE CLOSED” and “EMPLOYEES ON STRIKE.”

A handful of workers rallied outside with organizers from a new union for California fast-food workers to protest what they allege is ongoing wage theft by the Pizza Hut franchise owner.

Six current and former workers are staging a three-day strike to bring attention to their cause, and with help from the new union, five of them filed a complaint with the state labor commissioner’s office Wednesday alleging that store management skimmed hours from their paychecks, required training and overtime work while refusing to pay for it, and declined to pay for sick leave — amounting to some $81,443 in back pay and penalties.

Julieta Garcia goes on a three-day strike to protest alleged wage theft at a Pizza Hut in L.A.’s Historic Filipinotown, west of downtown.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

The complaint also alleges store management enforced “abusive and chaotic scheduling,” with changes to workers’ schedules multiple times a week; workers at times have been sent home at the beginning of their shifts without prior notification or pay.

“Management is subjecting us to nearly every form of wage theft,” the complaint reads.

The Pizza Hut store’s management did not respond to a phone call requesting comment.

Although the number of workers involved in the labor action is small, the accusations of wage theft illustrate a pervasive problem in restaurant and other low-wage industries, labor advocates say.

Forms of wage theft can include violations such as failure to pay for all hours worked, paying workers less than minimum wage, refusing to pay overtime, denying workers meal breaks or rest periods, and requiring employees to finish tasks before or after their shifts. The Economic Policy Institute said in 2014 that wage theft costs American workers as much as $50 billion a year.

The strike comes as part of a broader push from the newly formed California Fast Food Worker Union for improved work standards as well as predictable and stable scheduling for workers.

The union, inaugurated early last month, is a unique effort that seeks to pave the way for more than half a million workers at fast-food chains across the state to bargain as a single sector as a member of California’s Fast Food Council.

Problems have plagued the Pizza Hut on Temple Street since a new store manager took over about six months ago. The franchisee that owns the location announced the day before Christmas that it would be laying off delivery drivers, said workers and union representatives. Workers protested the layoffs and what they describe as abusive scheduling during a one-day strike on Jan. 26.

Shwetha Ganesh, a spokesperson for the union, said when two Pizza Hut franchisees in California announced they were laying off delivery drivers and would rely on gig delivery services, analysts blamed the layoffs on the new $20 pay floor. But Pizza Hut began working with those services more than a year ago — not to save money but because management could not hire enough drivers, she said.

Three workers who walked off the job in the most recent strike Wednesday said they were intimidated by bosses to not take lunch breaks or cash in on time off. Two said their hours had been cut in retaliation for speaking out about their concerns.

Store management recently hired three new employees, even though current employees aren’t getting enough hours scheduled to pay their bills, workers said. The store has about a dozen workers total.

Pizza Hut workers and their supporters begin a three-day strike by marching.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

“We’re on strike because we are asserting our rights. We want to get paid, and we want our old schedules back,” said Kimberly Oliva, 20, who has worked as a cook at the Pizza Hut for about a year.

Oliva said she used to be scheduled about 46 hours per week; now, she gets only 16. The dramatic cut in hours has strained her wallet. She has been forced to borrow thousands of dollars from her aunt and uncle.

Oliva lives with her dad and two siblings, and helps pay for rent, food, gas, clothing and car insurance as well as sending money regularly to her mom in Guatemala.

Oliva said the loss of income and antagonistic attitude from the store manager have taken a toll. Last week, when Oliva asked for time off because her grandma had died, her manager shut her down, threatening to lay her off, she said.

“I’m very worried, I’m sick, I’m stressed. My nerves are really tense to the point where I have eye problems,” she said. “I have never felt so sick.”

Julieta Garcia, a cook at the Pizza Hut who participated in the protest, said in her statement to the labor commissioner’s office that she had to miss work Dec. 3 and 4 after going to the emergency room for a muscular lesion, and requested paid sick time. But a shift manager told her the store manager said paid sick time was not yet available to Garcia.

Garcia said in her written statement that she realized she had been lied to when she spoke with organizers with the California Fast Food Workers Union who told her she is legally entitled to paid sick time after being employed for 90 days; at that point she had been working at Pizza Hut for some seven months.

Garcia said in an interview that stress at work and heavier workloads have aggravated her health issues. She had to visit the emergency room again in February because she was experiencing severe headaches, and she was once again denied paid sick time. In addition to her responsibilities as a cook, she is now also expected to sweep, mop and wash dishes — all duties that delivery drivers used to take care of, she said.

“I feel stress, I feel headaches, I get migraines — I need my paid time off,” Garcia said.

Ganesh, the union spokesperson, said problems Garcia and other Pizza Hut workers are facing are widespread in the fast-food industry. Ganesh pointed to a report published by the union on Wednesday finding that 88% of California fast-food workers do not know their rights on the job and broadly lack information about essential benefits and programs.

The report, co-authored by the Step Forward Foundation, an immigrant advocacy group providing free legal services, also found that 73% of California fast-food workers do not know how much additional pay they are entitled to if they are forced to work through a meal break or rest breaks.

The union has called on local officials in Los Angeles and San Jose to draft and approve “fast-food fair work ordinances” securing paid time off provisions, predictive scheduling tools and mandatory “know your rights” training for workers.

Daniela Soto, a shift manager at the Pizza Hut who opened the store Wednesday morning, was working when workers and Service Employees International Union organizers gathered outside for a noon protest.

Soto hadn’t originally planned to participate in the strike, but she closed the store to show solidarity and joined the protest. Staff from a nearby Pizza Hut location arrived about 30 minutes later to reopen the store, she said.

“I am upset about what they did to the drivers,” Soto said. “I got involved in the strike because I’m seeing a lot of unfairness there.”

Business

FDA escalates recall of Utz brand potato chips before July Fourth holiday

Published

1 hour ago

July 6, 2026

Press Room

The recall of a popular chip brand over salmonella concerns was recently upgraded to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s highest level, just ahead of the Fourth of July holiday and countless backyard barbecues.

On June 24, the FDA designated the recall of several varieties of Zapp’s and Dirty brand potato chips as Class I, meaning it’s “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

FDA has classified the following items as Class I:

Zapp’s

1.5-ounce Zapp’s Bayou Blackened Ranch Kettle Chips
2.5- and 8-ounce Zapp’s Bayou Blackened Ranch Potato Chips
1.5- and 8-ounce Zapp’s Big Cheezy Potato Chips

Dirty

1.5- and 2-ounce Dirty Brand Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips
2-ounce Dirty Maui Onion Chips
2-ounce Dirty Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips

The chips are produced by Utz Quality Foods, LLC, which on April 28 issued a recall after learning “that a seasoning containing dry milk powder, sourced from California Dairies, Inc. and supplied by a third-party supplier, may contain the presence of Salmonella.”

Salmonella can lead to sometimes deadly infections in elderly people, young children and those with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA.

More than 680,000 bags are included in the recall.

Anyone who has these products should not eat them and should discard them immediately.

What to look for

Salmonella is a foodborne illness that can be fatal to young children, pregnant women, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Symptoms may develop 12 to 72 hours after infection, according to the FDA.

The FDA said that people with strong immune systems infected with salmonella may experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The illness can last four to seven days.

In rare cases, the infection may produce more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis, the agency added.

What to do if infected

If you contract salmonella, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends drinking plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.

The CDC advises consulting a doctor before taking antidiarrheal medicine or antibiotics. If severe symptoms continue after two days, seek medical help, the agency says.

Because those with diarrhea can spread salmonella to others, it’s also recommended to avoid sharing food or preparing meals for others, sexual contact and swimming in public pools, and to stay home while sick.

Times staff writer Jasmine Mendez contributed to this report.

Business

‘Minions & Monsters’ tops the box office, but with a lower-than-expected haul

Published

11 hours ago

July 5, 2026

Press Room

‘Minions & Monsters’ tops the box office, but with a lower-than-expected haul

The Minions took over theaters this weekend as Universal Pictures and Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” won the top spot at the box office, though with a lower-than-expected domestic haul.

The animated movie, which follows the Minions’ takeover of Hollywood, took in $61.4 million in the U.S. and Canada for the five-day Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to studio estimates. That haul was lower than analysts’ expectations for a domestic opening of about $68 million. The movie’s three-day total was $36.4 million.

But the Minions performed well internationally, bringing in about $85 million. In total, “Minions & Monsters” made $159.9 million worldwide on a production budget of about $85 million.

The film is the latest in the powerhouse franchise that began with “Despicable Me” in 2010. Across its previous six installments, the “Despicable Me” and “Minions” franchise has made more than $5.6 billion at the global box office. The last movie, 2022’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” made more than $940 million worldwide.

“Minions & Monsters” marks the lowest opening for the franchise. Part of the issue could be timing — the box office can be negatively affected when the Fourth of July lands on a Saturday, said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak.

Walt Disney Co. and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” came in second at the box office this weekend with a domestic three-day gross of $31 million. Angel Studios’ biopic “Young Washington” ($20.8 million), Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ “Supergirl” ($9.6 million) and Universal’s “Disclosure Day” ($6 million) rounded out the top five, according to Rentrak.

The haul for “Minions & Monsters,” coupled with the strong holdover performance of “Toy Story 5,” proved again that family films are making a dent in the summer box office.

“Toy Story 5” has now brought in a total of $764.3 million worldwide, and last month, Universal, Illumination and Nintendo’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” crossed $1 billion at the global box office, becoming the first film of any kind to do so this year.

The rest of the summer theatrical lineup is also expected to bring in audiences and push domestic box office totals closer to pre-pandemic figures. Next week, Disney will release its live-action “Moana,” followed by Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

To date, the summer box office is now about $2.3 billion, a nearly 12% increase compared with the same period a year ago, according to Rentrak data. Compared with pre-pandemic 2019’s numbers, however, it is still down about 7%.

Business

China-backed AI tool behind fake Brad Pitt fight making Hollywood inroads

Published

22 hours ago

July 5, 2026

Press Room

China-backed AI tool behind fake Brad Pitt fight making Hollywood inroads

Earlier this year, a widely circulated 15-second AI-generated video of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise on a rooftop sparked outrage across Hollywood. One screenwriter called the cinematic clip “terrifying.” The Motion Picture Assn. demanded the company behind the artificial intelligence tool — Chinese tech giant ByteDance — halt its “infringing activity.”

Despite the uproar, the former majority owner of TikTok has quietly continued to court filmmakers, independent artists and executives who are eager to adopt the AI video generation model called Seedance.

Seedance was launched in the U.S. this spring at a Santa Monica event hosted by a group linked to the Chinese government.

ByteDance began hiring for 100 open roles, signed multiple independent filmmakers and artists and held private conversations about financing AI films. The company threw a lavish caviar party at Cannes and in May hosted panels promoting its cinematic tool at Amazon’s AI on the Lot event in Culver City.

“Like any new technology, Hollywood ultimately has no choice but to react to market realities. And that reality is that the new crop of AI-empowered Hollywood creatives see Seedance as having the most powerful video generator in the market right now,” said Peter Csathy of Creative Media, an entertainment and AI business advisory firm.

Joel Kuwahara, the animation producer on early seasons of “The Simpsons,” echoed Hollywood’s quiet embrace.

“Within the industry, I know that a lot of studios haven’t approved Seedance, but yet with a wink and a nod, they’re allowing Seedance to be used. … It’s kind of like a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of a thing,’” Kuwahara told The Times.

ByteDance declined to comment on its U.S. expansion.

The race to build the dominant AI video model has created a fierce rivalry, pitting U.S. companies against the fast-closing Chinese competitors. On the American side, there are Google Veo and startups such as Runway and Luma. OpenAI’s Sora has discontinued its video tool.

The Chinese challengers Seedance, Kling and Alibaba’s HappyHorse have rapidly closed the gap on cinematic realism and have upstaged their American rivals by undercutting them on cost.

According to Artificial Analysis, a company that tracks cost and performances of different AI models, China’s Seedance is currently the most cost-effective and high-quality option compared with U.S. competitors. Seedance costs $9 per minute for video with audio generation, significantly lower than the $24 per minute required by Google’s Veo model.

That makes it an attractive tool for independent filmmakers like Rupert Wainwright, who recently met with Seedance executives at AI on the Lot.

He wants to use the the tool to help make his feature-length film called “Sebastian,” about a Christian saint set in 3rd century Rome. The hybrid AI film will be shot partly on location in Europe and partly generated with artificial intelligence.

“It’s the equivalent to when streaming a movie over the internet onto your TV finally became possible,” Wainwright said.

Kavan Cardoza.

(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

In May, Steven Schneider, the producer of “Paranormal Activity,” famous for its handheld grainy footage-style filmmaking, announced “Terrarium,” his first hybrid AI horror production. The film’s director, Jason Zada, said it will be entirely generated using Seedance’s model.

Zada’s filmmaking workflow involves writing, casting, prompting and editing all simultaneously, allowing him to rewrite scripts based on “dailies” generated by AI that day.

He estimates that generating 15 seconds of high-definition video costs only $5.

“We could go from a very detailed outline, very detailed characters and have it be a bit more fluid, because we could regen[erate] as much as we want,” Zada said.

Zada plans to shoot the movie first on a soundstage with real actors and will decide later which parts work better traditionally and what should be done synthetically. He’s a member of the Directors Guild of America and said he will be employing union actors for his hybrid AI film.

Seedance also has continued building ties by offering indie creators, AI-native studios and filmmakers free monthly credits and access to unreleased features. These “tastemakers” beta test its models, offer feedback on what works, and use it for their personal filmmaking projects — which creates corporate brand awareness.

Kavan Cardoza is one such breakout filmmaker. His AI fantasy series, “The Chronicle of Bones,” which uses Seedance, features half a dozen distinct storylines and an ensemble of characters. New episodes, each not more than 30 minutes, are released on YouTube once a month. The solo filmmaker averages 3 million views per episode and has cultivated a YouTube audience of 500,000.

Most filmmakers are tool agnostic, but lately Cardoza has become completely dependent on Seedance, he said, because it solves a persistent problem: maintaining character consistency between shots.

To create one of his characters, “the last lost boy,” Cardoza took self-portraits wearing a three-faced mask and a tattered brown jacket. He used those reference images for the AI character and transforms them into a stylized person, with a personality, backstory and visual details. He fed those images back to Seedance to get consistent characters — repeating the process for each member of the cast.

“I can’t go get Brad Pitt because he costs like $5, 10, 20 million to be in my film,” Cardoza said. “I can probably get a synthetic actor that will act just as good as Brad Pitt in the future. That’s crazy to me.”

Cardoza has copyrighted his script and characters, and aims to eventually attract major studio interest to turn his intellectual property into a film which comes with a built-in fan base.

Such plans are likely to face resistance from the performers union SAG-AFTRA, which has decried the use of synthetic actors such as Tilly Norwood.

“The rise of Seedance comes down to [its] focus on pleasing filmmakers and making things that look filmic,” said Stephan Vladimir Bugaj, senior vice president of JioStar, a joint venture between Disney and India’s Reliance Industries.

ByteDance introduced timeline-based prompting so filmmakers can actually pick specific moments and tweak them, and improved the understanding of camera direction, physics, lighting and fluidity of action. All of this, Bugaj said, “unlocked a kind of spectacle filmmaking that the other models are not delivering quite as well.”

The company’s tool has been in such high demand, Zada said, that Seedance has been quoting some major Hollywood studios $2 million for unrestricted special access.

While acknowledging Seedance’s popularity and its U.S. expansion, Amit Jain, chief executive of Luma, said its ceiling in Hollywood is severely limited. Traditional studios might adopt Chinese models for some preproduction tasks such as concepting, but the geopolitical and intellectual property risks for commercial generations are too prohibitive.

“Can you imagine Disney using the ByteDance model for the next ‘Snow White’? No way,” Jain said. “This is not even a technical argument, really. That’s the reality.”

Luma has been making inroads into Hollywood selling its software but has separately funded a production service company to teach filmmakers to make hybrid AI films using its tools.

Despite conservative production budgets, AI spending by media companies is projected to grow from $2.6 billion to $12.5 billion from 2024 to 2029, according to a State of Generative AI Media report.