Group reports pay loss for hotel workers

A lawsuit filed by seven hotels seeking to avoid paying a higher minimum wage has cost roughly 2,000 workers a combined $4.7 million in lost income, according to a report to be released today by a pro-union nonprofit group.

The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which last year persuaded the City Council to pass a $10.64-per-hour minimum wage at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport, said the ongoing legal fight has delayed implementation of the law -- denying each hotel employee anywhere from $350 to $4,400 since the measure was approved in January 2007.

The report comes roughly a month before the state Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether it will review the wage law. If the court refuses to take it up, the hotels may draft a ballot measure seeking to repeal the law.

“If they decide to start collecting signatures, we want this information out there as part of the debate,” said alliance spokesman Danny Feingold.

The law, which was signed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, requires 13 hotels on Century Boulevard to pay their workers a higher hourly rate than hotels in other parts of the city.

Harvey Englander, a lobbyist for most of those hotels, called the report a “one-sided, absolutely ridiculous document of no substance.”

“They didn’t even go outside and get independent research, since they couldn’t find anyone to back up their figures,” he said.

The alliance is pushing several union-friendly initiatives at City Hall, including an effort to block a hospital expansion in the San Fernando Valley and a $2.2-billion truck replacement program at the Port of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Harbor Commission is slated to vote Thursday on a plan that would require each truck driver at the port to be employed by a trucking company -- a change that would allow unions to organize truckers.

The American Trucking Assn. has threatened to sue over the port plan, which was released Monday.

The alliance also is part of a coalition that went to court to block the council’s approval of a new wing at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The hospital’s parent company is in a battle with healthcare unions.

In the LAX wage battle, each side has won a round in court. Last year, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge struck down the council’s decision to impose a higher wage at the hotels. In December, a three-judge panel reversed that decision, upholding the ordinance.

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david.zahniser@latimes.com