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It’s the summer of the Burn It Down Borot Major in Los Angeles.
For the past three months, unions and business groups have been locked up in a long-term battle over a law approved by the city council in May, hiking the minimum wage for hotel employees and workers at Los Angeles International Airport to $30 an hour by 2028.
Both sides propose a vote measure to disrupt the city in a massive way if approved in an attempt to gain an advantage, leaving an impact well beyond the hourly wages of housekeepers, Bullets and loose Skysup.
Local 11, a politically powerful union representing hotel and restaurant workers, aims to vote for four voting proposals that will wreaked havoc on the city’s economy, according to critics. Business leaders are under attack after filing a ballot petition to eliminate the city’s $800 million business tax. This is a move that has been accused by city officials of raising funds for police and other important services.
LA City Councilman Monica Rodriguez said the arms race between businesses and workers is out of control due to a lack of leadership at city hall. As the fight intensifies, Rodriguez, who voted against the $30 minimum wage, said no one would be willing to help compromise between both sides.
“We’ve entered this rose war because no one will take the party to the room to negotiate the balance that everyone will work, so it helps to maintain the business and address the needs of the workers.” “If it doesn’t, everyone will have the problem in their hands. It’s reckless, sloppy, and dangerous.”
Painted in 2020, Los Angeles City Councilman Monica Rodriguez said the battle for voting measurement between organized labor and the business community has been out of control.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Asked about these claims, Mayor Karen Bass aide said she “has brought new business investments to LA” and that she is “discussing a wide range of issues with labor and business groups.”
“perhaps [Rodriguez] Bass spokesman Zach Seidle said:
City Council President Marquez Harris Dawson is more diplomatic, saying in a simple statement that “people are finding solutions and are looking forward to it.”
The voting fight began mostly with fanfare in May when a group representing the airline and hotel industry filed papers for voters’ referendums on the $30 hourly hotel and airport minimum wage, weeks after it was passed by the city council.
Business leaders have argued that a minimum wage hike would cause layoffs and closing concessions at restaurants, hotels and airports, along with healthcare payments expected to exceed $8 an hour next year.
The organizers with units here served as Local 11, who had been fighting to ensure higher wages for at least two years, responding with their own package of voting proposals, including plans to request citywide elections on the development or expansion of large hotels, concert halls, museums, sports facilities and convention center spaces.
Manny Morales, an employee of LAX’s Flying Food Group, appeared at city hall in May and demanded a boost to the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Here, there is a history of knocking on the door for voting measures, and candidates who are favored filed voter petitions to extend the $30 minimum wage to all workers in LA and targeting large-scale enforcement wages.
Companies with a 100-1 wage gap between CEOs and median workers in LA must ensure voter approval to use the space at ports, airports, convention centres and other urban institutions. The other person will raise the city’s business tax on such businesses.
After uniting here, after filing four petitions, business leaders further raised interests and introduced proposed measures to abolish the city’s business tax.
That effort, if approved by voters, not only provides financial relief to businesses, but also strips them of more than $800 million from the city’s budget, or about 10% of the general fund they pay for police and fire prevention.
Bass warned that the measure would divide funds for public safety and other services. David Green, president of the employee United Nations Local 721, called the move “irresponsible” and “retaliation,” and said it would be hit by cities already caught up in a billion-dollar budget shortage.
“If you’re part of this community… why do you go to voters about something that hurts people living in and around Los Angeles?” he asked.
Business leaders defended the effort, saying that abolition would promote economic activity and generate income for the city.
Christopher Thornberg, a LA-based research firm that generates economic research for industry and government agencies, has expressed skepticism about the abolition efforts, saying there are other bigger issues that stumble the city’s economy. Still, he wasn’t surprised to see business leaders starting to play hardball.
At City Hall, they said they have been effectively locked out of conversation over the years. And we desperately need ways to get “some kind of leverage” with elected officials.
“probably [business tax] The economist said, “It’s leverage to bring someone to the council to make them pay attention. They’re just not at the table.”
Thornberg issued a critical assessment of the minimum wage hike, and expressed concern about each proposal here. He warned that plans will be forced to force hotels, sports arenas and other projects before voters undermines the city’s ability to implement “basic economic development.” He predicted that the proposed citywide minimum wage hike would lead businesses and their customers to other parts of Los Angeles County.
Additionally, Thornberg said the proposal, targeting exorbitant CEO pay, would likely close location shoots in LA, as it would apply to businesses seeking film permits for city property.
“Unity here has built a reputation for being the craziest people in the room, blowing everything up and going their own way,” he said. “What they’re doing is clearly responsive to that reputation.”
Councillor Hugo Soto-Martínez, painted in 2023, is interested in the union’s proposal to raise the minimum wage for all Angeleno to $30 by 2028.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
Here, unity spokesman Maria Hernandez pushed back the claim that the union was reckless. She said the fight to maintain a $30 hour tourism minimum wage was dubbed public support during the dark times as workers struggled to pay for food and housing and lost morale over President Trump’s drastic immigration crackdown.
“People might say it’s crazy or crazy, but it’s actually brave and bold, and more than anything, it’s supposed to inspire people.”
Rep. Hugo Soto-Martínez, who supported the $30 tourism minimum wage, opposed the allegation that the battle for voting measurements was out of control. The former Uniter here said he tends to support the citywide $30 minimum wage.
Soto-Martínez also expressed interest in promoting the coalition’s higher urban tax on companies with exorbitant CEO salaries. He had a dim view of pushing to abolish the minimum wage for tourism, calling it “despicable.”
He said the airline has teamed up with the hospitality industry to collect over 140,000 signatures within 30 days and poured millions of dollars into the signature drive.
“It’s just another example, and the public should know this – they have those resources and feel they can do whatever they want,” he said.
The outlook for abolishment is uncertain. Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder/Council Clerk officials are still working to determine if there is a valid voter signature that is sufficiently valid to qualify for the vote.
Like the services of West, International Union Integrated Workers of Service, who represent LAX employees, Unite organizers here led a vigorous campaign to persuade voters who regret signing the petition by saying they had been misunderstood by a collection of signatures.
Last week, county officials reported that they analyzed a sample of 7,040 signatures, or 5% of the 140,774 submitted by airlines and hotel industry groups. Officials have found 4,373 valid signatures. This is about 4,600 shyness needed to avoid a full hand count.
Among the invalid signatures, 853 people were withdrawn by voters, and union leaders were more confident about preventing the referendum from reaching the vote.
Kurt Petersen, the 11 local co-presidents painted at city hall in 2023, said his union is pushing for a voting proposal to hike citywide minimum wages, limit city approvals for hotels, and crack down on exorbitant CEO salaries.
(Brian van der Bragg/Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t want to be their shoes today. Their numbers aren’t in the comfort of the range,” said Kurt Petersen, co-chairman of the unit. [their measure] …About voting. ”
Even if the referendum fails to qualify, we will unite here and Local 11 plans to promote four voting initiatives. Petersen said his union members are being encouraged by the fight to protect the $30 tourism minimum wage and will soon begin collecting signatures for other proposals.
“We know our problems are very popular. People really believe that workers need to make more money and CEOs need to pay more taxes,” he said.
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commercial Association, said he believes voters will reject these measures.
“They want to be accurate in retaliation and revenge on those who challenge them…and they don’t care how much it costs to do that,” he said.
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