Hotels' Living Wage is Pushed

Worker Profiles

For over 20 years, Isabel “Segunda” Brentner has worked at the LAX Hilton, keeping her focus on her family and her job. “My priorities [were] to help my family,” says Brentner, who, along with raising her own children, cared for both her father and grandmother when they were ill. More

Enedina Alvarez, a 54-year-old single parent, says she must be both mother and father to her teenage children. Yet, with two jobs, she has barely enough money to house, feed and clothe them—and precious little time to spend with them. Although she receives health insurance through her job, she cannot afford to insure her children. Alvarez says, “I pray to God that my kids do not get sick because I cannot pay the medical bills.” More

Who Are Hotel Housekeepers?*

Nearly all hotel housekeepers are women. The majority are women of color and immigrants.

There are 1.3 million hotel workers in the U.S. and 280,000 in Canada, of whom approximately one quarter are housekeepers.

Hotel Housekeeper Work Is Dangerous Work

Hotel workers have a 40% higher injury rate (5.9%) than workers in the service sector (4.2%).

According to a recent study of company records covering thousands of employee injuries, hotel housekeepers face an injury rate of 10.4%, almost double the injury rate for non-housekeepers (5.6%).

Hotel housekeeper injuries are debilitating. Back injuries, housemaids' knee (bursitis), and shoulder pain can lead to permanent disability.

*UNITE HERE

Why We Need A

"PLAN FOR A
NEW CENTURY"

A new white paper calls on the city of Los Angeles and industry leaders to invest in the Century Corridor and its workforce. A Plan for a New Century will benefit workers, communities, hotels and the entire city. More

Hotels' Living Wage is Pushed
City Eyes Pay at Sites Near LAX
LA Daily News- November 3, 2006
By Rick Orlov

A coalition of labor, political and religious leaders urged the Los Angeles City Council on Friday to approve a plan requiring a cluster of Century Boulevard hotels to pay higher wages to 3,500 workers.

"The sky will not fall," said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles. "We heard all sorts of dire predictions about this 10 years ago and none of them came true."

The City Council is scheduled Wednesday to consider the proposal by Councilwoman Janice Hahn that would require the hotels near Los Angeles International Airport to pay a minimum of $9.08 an hour with health benefits, or $10.33 an hour without health benefits.

The plan also would ensure employees are given their full pay, including tips collected from service charges.

But the proposal has drawn strong opposition from the business community, which questions the power of the council to link the LAX development to the operation of the hotels.

Business leaders also are threatening to circulate petitions to call a referendum so voters can decide the issue.

But Goldberg, who served on the City Council and authored the original living-wage ordinance adopted in 1997 involving city contractors at LAX, said the council should have included the hotels in the original proposal.

"We had a mayor at the time who opposed it and the council wasn't bold enough to stand up to the business community," Goldberg said.

Former Mayor Richard Riordan signed the program into law once it became clear the council would override his veto.

"It is clear to us that these hotels wouldn't be there if it wasn't for LAX," said Warren Furutani, a member of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees. "There is nothing else along Century Boulevard that would bring people to that area other than how close it is to LAX."

Supporters of the living-wage plan said they also support the public debate and a possible referendum on the issue.