Low-Wage Workers Get Backing for Labor Fights

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously has passed an ordinance to protect low-wage workers from retaliation for supporting union organizing efforts or higher wages.

The action late Tuesday night came as thousands of hotel employees are losing their jobs or working reduced hours in response to a slump in tourism.

The new law, passed after 10 workers testified in its support, would prohibit hotel and restaurant owners from targeting vocal union supporters for layoffs or demotions.

The council also directed city staff to study a plan proposed by Mayor Michael Feinstein that would require nonunion hotels to hire back such workers on a seniority basis as the tourism industry improves. Activists in the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union said Santa Monica would be the first city in the nation to regulate such rehirings.

The city has had a contentious relationship with several luxury beach hotels for several years over a living wage ordinance that set a minimum of more than $10 for all workers at large businesses in the coastal area. The ordinance was adopted in June but implementation was halted by a hotel-backed referendum that puts the new law to a public vote.