Mayor signs ‘living wage’ law
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a law Monday requiring hotels near Los Angeles International Airport to pay their employees a “living wage” of as much as $10.64 an hour.
The measure, which is to take effect Dec. 30, pertains to about 3,500 workers at a dozen hotels along Century Boulevard. Approved earlier this month by the City Council in an 11-3 vote, it requires that the hotels -- like city contractors -- pay the higher wage even though they have no direct financial relationship with city government.
Council members said the city has a strong interest in ensuring the rights of workers who are employed by hotels that benefit from their proximity to a public facility -- the airport.
Under the law, workers will earn $9.39 per hour with health benefits provided by their employers or $10.64 per hour without benefits.
Villaraigosa also signed two related ordinances, one that would provide job protections to hotel workers during ownership changes and another that would guarantee that workers receive service charges collected during hotel banquets.
“A strong economy and fair treatment of our workforce should never be mutually exclusive. They should go hand in hand,” Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference where he was joined by about 100 hotel workers and supporters from the council.
“It is only fair that the workers who labor to keep these hotels and our economy humming get paid a decent living wage,” Villaraigosa added. “It is simply the right thing to do.”
Business leaders said the wage increase change would hurt the city’s image with investors and ultimately its economy.
Fearing an expansion of the law throughout the city, business leaders plan to gather signatures in a bid to put the matter before voters.
If they succeed in collecting enough signatures, the business leaders could stop the law from taking effect until there is a public vote on a referendum, which would not occur before May.
Opponents have 30 days to gather the signatures of 49,308 registered voters, or 10% of those who cast ballots in last year’s mayoral election.
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