Push to block L.A.’s tourism wage hike has been misleading, union alleges
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The union representing Southern California hospitality workers has accused a group of airlines and hotel businesses of using underhanded tactics in support of a petition to overturn a city ordinance boosting the minimum wage in Los Angeles.
The hospitality union that pushed for the wage boost, Unite Here Local 11, on Wednesday filed a complaint with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, alleging that petition circulators hired by the campaign have made false statements and misrepresentations to convince voters to support the measure.
“We write to alert your offices to serious misconduct and probable violations of law,” the letter said. “Knowingly making false statements about a ballot measure petition is a misdemeanor, but even more importantly, it undermines the integrity of our electoral process.”
California voters complain that canvassers for a measure to repeal a law expanding protections for fast-food workers lied about the effects.
The business coalition is seeking to overturn a city ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers in Los Angeles to $30 an hour by 2028, contending that it will hurt the industry and thwart the development of new hotels.
The group, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, filed paperwork at the end of last month to force a citywide vote on the wage boost, hoping to persuade voters to repeal the ordinance.
Cydney Hargis, a spokesperson for the group, in turn accused the union of unsavory tactics and alleged that signature gatherers have been intimidated by observers.
“This referendum is a last line of defense against an economic crisis for the tourism sector, and the petition makes crystal clear what voters are being asked to sign. Period,” Hargis said.
The group needs to gather about 93,000 signatures by the end of June to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election.
The effort is funded by Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel and Lodging Assn., according to campaign documents.
The union’s complaint describes about a dozen instances in which, it said, witnesses observed petition circulators allegedly telling passersby various inaccurate claims.
At a Ralphs in Woodland Hills, for example, passersby were asked to sign in support of an effort to increase the minimum wage rather than overturn it, the letter alleged.
At a Trader Joe’s in West Hills a circulator said the petition was about opposing L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, and made the false claim that Bass had unilaterally decided that wages would increase, according to the letter.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
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