|
`Living Wage' Ordinance Wins Court Backing
Hotels Near Lax Must Pay Workers Higher Salaries.
The Daily News of Los Angeles- December 28, 2007
In a victory for Los Angeles city leaders, an appeals court on Thursday upheld a city ordinance that would require LAX-area hotels to pay workers a ``living wage.''
In its ruling, the 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the city's enhancement zone ordinance was sufficiently different from a repealed living wage ordinance because it addressed objections expressed by hotels and businesses, according to the City Attorney's Office.
"I am pleased to report that the California Court of Appeal today, in a published opinion, ruled for the city and upheld the city's enhancement zone ordinance,'' said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.
"This decision is a win for the workers who deserve a living wage, and for the hotels who will benefit from increased investment in the neighborhood and in worker training.''
But a spokesman for the Century Corridor Hotels, a group of affected hotels around Los Angeles International Airport, said Californians should be "shocked and saddened'' by the decision.
"In what we believe was a decision not supported by fact or precedent, the court gutted the ability of Californians to challenge the acts of their government through a vote of the people,'' said Ruben Gonzalez.
"This decision, in a case regarding a mandated wage proposed by the city of Los Angeles that was successfully stopped and sent to the ballot by over 100,000 voters, will now allow local and state government to avoid a referendum election by making minor cosmetic changes to any law challenged by the voters.''
Last year, the Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance requiring 13 hotels near the Los Angeles International Airport to pay their employees $9.39 an hour with health insurance, or $10.64 an hour without benefits.
When hotel owners and business leaders began a petition drive to force the issue onto the ballot in hopes of overturning the measure, the council voted to rescind the ordinance to avoid a costly election.
In February, the council approved a compromise ordinance, restricting it to a dozen hotels near LAX and providing new hotels with economic incentives.
City officials said the second measure was different because it called for the creation of an economic overlay zone for the dozen hotels surrounding LAX and allowed for $1 million in street improvements, $50,000 worth of marketing for the area and other incentives.
But a Superior Court judge struck down the ordinance in May, saying the council attempted to evade the state's referendum law by repealing the first living wage ordinance, then adopting a similarly worded measure a short time later.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the appeal court decision.
"The court correctly recognizes that the challenged ordinance, which was carefully crafted to respond to the concerns of the airport hotels as well as of the broader business community, differs significantly from the original airport hotel living wage ordinance,'' he said in a statement.
The living wage ordinance will go into effect once the trial court complies with the Court of Appeal's instructions, according to Delgadillo's office.
"The hotel industry in Los Angeles is booming and workers deserve to also share some of that success,'' said Vivian Rothstein, deputy director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.
"Legislation such as the living wage ordinance is important because often hotel owners don't play a fair wage to their employees and this is a perfect example of what our public officials can do to reverse the growing gap between the rich and the poor in our city.''
|
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. 
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.” 
Nearly all hotel housekeepers are women. The majority are women of color and immigrants.
