City Council’s wage dilemma

Re “Kill the living wage,” editorial, Feb. 15

I find your position on paying airport workers a decent living wage to be an outrageous stand, regardless of the employees’ immigration status. A living wage for these people is imperative, first to support themselves and their families and to keep them off the public dole. The people who do this work do it very well and work very hard.

Instead of mouthing off about something you know virtually nothing about, might I suggest that you take your elitist self down to a hotel near the airport and apply for one of these jobs, and demand that they only pay you minimum wage? The revelation you gain from this may surprise you. What I find remarkable is that you Sunday-morning Christians, hoteliers and the like sing your praises to the lord on Sunday and you’re back trying to stick to the poor and disenfranchised on Monday.

JOHN CONTWAY

Fullerton

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Once again our City Council has injected itself into an area in which it (ostensibly) has no business. Since when are the council members supposed to determine the wages paid by private companies to their employees?

If a company is directly doing business with the city, then the council might have some say in those wages. However, when a company is not dealing directly with the city, it should be allowed to set the wage scale for its employees.

Of late, there has been a great deal of discussion about minimum wages and whether companies (of various sizes) are paying their employees fairly. Open discussions can often bring about needed reforms, but those reforms cannot be issued in a one-size-fits-all sweep.

Large corporations and small private businesses have different personnel and financial issues. The City Council, like the mayor, should stick to taking care of the city business that falls under its purview and not waste time and money interfering where it has no official business.

ELLIE DOUD

Van Nuys