Hahn Regrets Hotel-Wage Issue Wasn't on Ballot

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

Hahn Regrets Hotel-Wage Issue Wasn't on Ballot
LA Daily News - March 18 2008
By Rick Orlov

With legal battles continuing to delay an ordinance designed to force a group of hotels near Los Angeles International Airport to pay a living wage, a city official said Tuesday she now believes the city should have allowed voters to decide the matter.

"I have always felt the people of Los Angeles would support the workers," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. "I wish now we had put the matters before voters rather than try to work out a compromise."

The council voted in late 2006 to impose a living wage on Century Corridor hotels near LAX, citing civic investments in the airport that benefit the hotels.

The hotels qualified a referendum to take the issue to voters, which the City Council voided when it dropped its original measure and came up with a new proposal.

That proposal, however, was rejected by the hotels and has been subject to court battles. It is now pending in the state Supreme Court.

Supporters of the measure said a study it has done showed that the 2,000 workers at the hotels have lost a total of $4.6 million in pay as the hotels have made an additional $30 million since then.

"The hotel owners should be ashamed of themselves," Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. "The reason they are making all these profits is because of the hard work of these people."

Under the living wage ordinance, workers would be paid $9.39 an hour with health benefits or $10.64 an hour without benefits - an amount Councilman Richard Alarcon said is barely enough to care for a family of four in the city.

However, a spokesman for the hotels disputed the findings of the New Century Coalition and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which conducted the study.

"Once again, they never let the facts get in the way of their rhetoric," spokesman Ruben Gonzalez said. "They don't give any source for their so-called hotel information and they want it both ways.

"Here they say the hotels are making a huge profit and, other times, they say the hotels are losing money because of the boycott. Which is it?"

Gonzalez said the hotels are waiting to hear if the state Supreme Court will take the case, adding that other legal action could be pursued.

"We haven't even challenged the idea of a city creating a regulation for a dozen businesses and not applying it to others that are less than a block away," Gonzalez said.