LOS ANGELES – Three Los Angeles City Council members proposed a motion that directs the city to study the economic impact of a $15.37/ hour living wage for employees in big hotels.
On Tuesday morning, LA Council members Nury Martinez (CD 6), Curren Price (CD 9), and Mike Bonin (CD 11) introduced the measure on Tuesday at the Council Meeting.
California’s minimum wage is currently set at $8 per hour, and will increase to $9 in July of this year.
However, other places like Washington State and San Francisco City have higher wages than California’s, with $9.19 and $10.74 respectively.
However, if LA City Council approves the proposed ordinance after its initial study, workers in big hotel chains in LA could stand to receive a higher minimum wage than those in Washington State or San Francisco.
“Economic justice and true economic growth go hand in hand,” Bonin said in a Los Angeles Times report.
“And expanding the living wage to include all hotel workers in Los Angeles is both a moral and financial imperative for our city.”
Economic benefits
If approved, the ordinance would apply to 87 hotels that have at least 100 rooms, and would affect about 17,000 workers across the city.
Bonin and supporters of the initiative cited the positive impact of a living wage ordinances passed by the city council for workers in hotels near LAX in 2007 and for workers in the airport itself in 2009, saying that an increased wage would lead to economic prosperity.
They pointed to these two pieces of legislation as vital factors that contributed to a nearly 5 percent uptick in passenger traffic at LAX.
“The city did this along the hotels along Century Boulevard a few years ago, and economic activity there continues to thrive,” Bonin said in a KNX1070 interview.
A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that increased wages for hotel workers could stimulate as much as $70 million in consumer spending in LA. The LA County Federation of Labor released a study by the Economic Roundtable, which found that wage hikes could potentially spur local economy and create over 64,000 jobs.
A news release from the council members behind the wage hike motion quoted Silicon Valley libertarian Ron Unz, who said that a living wage would create “an enormous, permanent economic boom.”
Unz supports a $12 minimum wage by 2016.
Rebuttals
Those opposing the motion however think that it could hurt the profitability of hotels, drive away future development of big hotel complexes in LA, and create a rift between local businesses and labor groups.
Hoteliers have argued that their industry is being unfairly targeted for regulation. Meanwhile, other businesses and hotels outside LA only need to meet the base wage for the state.
Hotel Association of Los Angeles Executive Director Bob Amano said that city leaders can’t say on one hand that they want businesses to invest in the city, “and then on the other hand arbitrarily decide to single out one industry, the backbone of tourism in Los Angeles, with restrictions and requirements that are not imposed on any other industry.”
(With reports from KNX1070, LA Times and CBS Los Angeles)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend February 22-25, 2014 Sec A pg.6)
