City Council Imposes Wage Law on DWP

Deciding that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power commissioners failed to adequately endorse the city’s living wage law, the City Council voted Thursday to impose the law on the department.

Although DWP commissioners voted earlier this week to adhere to the spirit of the law, council members said they did not trust the department to fully comply.

Council members had initially praised the commissioners for taking action this week, but that was before the council took a closer look, council aides said.

As a result, Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg asked her colleagues to seize authority over the DWP commissioners and order the department to implement the living wage law.

One council aide described the DWP commission’s action as approving the law “with loopholes so big you could drive a truck through them.”

DWP Commission President Rick Caruso had come under attack from some council members who confirmed him to the board once he promised to place the living wage ordinance on the commission’s agenda.

Caruso also received a strongly worded letter from Mayor Richard Riordan, urging the commission to comply with the law’s requirements that set pay and benefits for contractors who do business with the city.