Labor groups, officials push for a minimum wage of at least $25 an hour in L.A. County
Labor advocates and some elected officials are calling on Los Angeles County to adopt a minimum wage of at least $25 an hour.
On Monday, about 150 workers, labor leaders, Democratic party officials and loyal donors gathered at private tables reserved in the back of Wally's Wine & Spirits in Santa Monica to launch a new effort to raise the minimum hourly wage in L.A. County to $25 — or higher.
Amid the tinkle of glassware and clang of cutlery, Saru Jayaraman, an L.A. attorney and president of One Fair Wage, a national coalition pushing to raise wages in the service sector, emphasized the urgency of addressing a steep increase in the cost of living.
Read more: L.A. council backs $30 minimum wage for hotels, despite warnings from tourism industry
"We need bold, proactive action," Jayaraman said. "That's the only way people will be able to afford to stay in L.A. County."
A person living in L.A. County and working full-time in a household without children must earn about $28 an hour in order to cover basics of rent, transportation and food, Jayaraman said, citing MIT's living wage calculator.
The hourly minimum wage in Los Angeles is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state's.
No wage proposal has yet been submitted to the county, Jayaraman said, but labor groups plan to work with the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to hash out the specifics.
The campaign is sure to face staunch resistance from business groups.
It follows L.A. City Council's approval of wage boosts for airport and hotel workers to $30 an hour by 2028. Hotels and tourism industry groups have continued to fight the new ordinance, filing paperwork last week to force a citywide vote to overturn it.
Business leaders who opposed the tourism wage hike had warned that Southern California — like other tourism hotspots across the U.S. — is already facing a slowdown in international travel due to trade war hostilities and deportation threats. To manage the mounting cost of labor, hotels will be forced close restaurants or other small businesses on their premises — and in some cases, shut down entirely, they said.
The coalition of businesses that is seeking to overturn the wage — the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress — will need to gather about 93,000 signatures within the next few weeks in order to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election.
L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who backed the tourism wage boost, said unions were bracing for a fight in the coming weeks and months.
"Corporations and businesses are only going to go more on the attack and do everything in their power to reverse these policies," she said. "We are talking about workers being able to buy food, and live in the city they work in."
The campaign to boost the minimum wage has the backing of L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who said at the event that she often hears from her constituents that they are being priced out.
"What it costs to just survive in Los Angeles County — it takes away my breath every day," Mitchell said.
Mitchell supports an across-the-board minimum wage increase, rather than efforts to raise industry-specific wages.
"This might not be a popular thing to say, but we don't help ourselves when we have a piecemeal, sector-by-sector approach," Mitchell said.
Besides tourism workers, healthcare and fast-food workers have also lobbied for improved pay at the state or local level.
In unincorporated areas of L.A. County, the minimum wage is $17.81. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Virginia is a hot spot for immigration enforcement and more state headlines
The state Capitol. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) • 'Virginia is a hot spot for immigration enforcement.' — Axios • 'Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor talk about how they'd fight Trump while working with Republican legislators from rural Virginia.' — Cardinal News • 'Will the Republican statewide ticket appear together this election cycle?' — WVTF • ''We're not interested in collecting revenue': Fairfax Co. board chairman says more speed cameras are being installed.' — WTOP • 'Replica gun recovered after 18-year-old shot by Virginia Beach police, authorities say.' — 13newsnow SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
More money, more problems? Florida's budget battle belies chronic issues
Florida is flush with cash, but its public workforce is running on empty. The Florida National Guard has been helping staff state prisons for two and a half years. There's a teacher shortage and a nursing shortage. There are 1,800 troopers patrolling a state with 7 million vehicles and more than 140 million tourists per year. All this in a state in strong fiscal health with ample reserves and a lean budget compared to other large states. Federal stimulus funds from the COVID-19 era, combined with inflation that boosted its sales tax-reliant revenues, padded its coffers. That helped lawmakers set aside massive reserves, about $17 billion in the current year. For Republicans who have held the reins of the state for nearly three decades, it's a point of pride to have the lowest number of workers per capita and to have half of New York's budget with more people. Such fiscal restraint – Florida's constitution requires lawmakers to pass a balanced budget each year – helps the state avoid the deficits and woes of Democratic-run states like Illinois and California. Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, revel in the contrasts to those states and boast of the state's fiscal picture. 'We've been running major, major budget surpluses, certainly over the last four years,' DeSantis said at a March 10 event in Winter Haven. 'We're spending, this year, less money than we spent last year … we have the lowest footprint of government workers per capita in the entire United States of America.' But Republican legislative leaders, after deadlocking on budget negotiations that threw the session into overtime, are still trying to reach a deal on a final spending plan. The dispute, though, is over how much to permanently cut taxes to restrain spending growth, not over how to pay for pressing needs that have long languished as the state continues to grow. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, pushed for a sales tax cut to keep spending contained. Florida's budget has grown from $82.6 billion in 2019 to $118.6 billion for the current year. But Sen. Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, resisted the move, saying it would hamper lawmakers' ability to meet the needs of a growing state. When they first attempted a compromise that included a 0.25% cut to the 6% sales tax, DeSantis nixed it by pledging to veto the plan. He feared cutting the sales tax would crowd out his push for massive property tax reductions. Now, Perez and Albritton have a framework to resolve the budget differences, including a deal for $2.25 billion in permanent tax reductions, although the details of those cuts still need to be negotiated. For Democrats, stuck in superminority status in the Legislature, the fracas over the budget doesn't address chronic issues facing the state. 'There's actually investments, real investments that need to be made to ensure our government is functioning properly and I just don't think that this is the time to discuss cuts when we haven't adequately funded our schools, our prison system, our unemployment system,' said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa. 'It feels sometimes like the governor and legislative leadership don't really care how people are living; they just want to get what they want so that they can say that they got it. But how does that really help improve the lives of Floridians who are struggling to make ends meet?' To be sure, Republicans in recent years have put some money toward addressing the issues, putting more money towards pay for prison guards, troopers, teachers and to educate and train nurses. But the freeze on worker pay that lasted for years during and after the Great Recession left the state well behind the pay for competing industries in the private sector or other public entities. That led to massive turnover and shortages in vital areas. Inflation, too, has hampered efforts to provide competitive pay in several vital workforce positions. In September 2022, DeSantis issued an executive order to place National Guard members in prisons facing critical shortages of guards, known as correctional officers. The Department of Corrections (DOC) has faced chronic issues of turnover and trouble recruiting and retaining officers. A few years ago, the starting salary for a Florida prison guard was less than $33,000, and leaders at the DOC said they were competing with WalMart for workers. Lawmakers have tried to address the issue by giving pay raises to guards, boosting the starting pay by $15,000 in recent years. The raises have helped alleviate the issue. The Tampa Bay Times reported the number of vacant positions at state prisons has dropped from 5,000 to 1,000. But recruitment and retention problems have persisted, hampered by inflation, and staffing shortages could return if the Guard leaves. DeSantis issued four extensions of his order in the face of the problem, but the latest order is set to expire later in June. In budget talks, the Senate has offered to set aside $30 million to pay for a DOC deficit related to staffing, while the House wants $53 million for overtime pay. The Florida Highway Patrol, facing shortages of troopers, has relied heavily on overtime. During a March 11 meeting of a House budget committee, Dave Kerner – who heads the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which includes the FHP – told lawmakers his difficulty in retaining troopers. 'We spend an inordinate amount of money on overtime because of the low staffing we have at the Florida Highway Patrol,' Kerner said. 'Because of the lack of pay the lack of career development plan it is much more efficient for a trooper to come and work at the Florida Highway Patrol, get trained and then three years later leave to a better paying department and so we have to supplement that vacancy rate with overtime,' he added. He was responding to Rep. Randy Maggard, R-Dade City, who blanched at the $10 million price tag for overtime for the nearly 1,800 troopers. Kerner said there were 288 vacancies, including 138 vacancies of sworn patrol officers as of March 1 at FHP. Legislators have put more money into raises and bonuses for troopers in recent years, and DeSantis has called for pay raises of 20% and 25% for entry level and veteran law enforcement officers, respectively, including state troopers. But the House has resisted the raises for FHP, as well as nearly $10 million to replace and upgrade part of FHP's fleet of vehicles. A January report from the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, showed 3,197 teacher vacancies in public schools. The number was down from about 4,000 the year before, showing improvement but union officials still were alarmed at the 16% rise in teachers in charge of classes without a certification in that subject area. Prodded by DeSantis, lawmakers have put more money into teach salaries since he took office in 2019, raising annual pay by $1.25 billion per year. In ongoing budget talks, the House has offered to increase that by $91 million. The Senate prefers a $100 million increase. Those increases, though, haven't kept up with other states, which have also boosted average teacher salaries, leaving Florida near the bottom for pay among state. Inflation has also eaten into the nominal gains. Lawmakers also have tried to address projected shortages of nurses. A 2021 analysis by the Florida Hospital Association estimated a shortage of 59,100 nurses by 2035, as Florida continued to grow – and age. But an association report from September showed progress – vacancies and turnover were down significantly compared to the prior year. And the Legislature had passed the Live Healthy Act, which put $716 million to boosting health care access and expanding the health care workforce. In the latest budget talks, however, the House has sought to cut the $30 million boost to the Florida Reimbursement Assistance for Medical Education (FRAME) program in the Live Healthy Act. It offsets loans and expenses for those seeking degrees and licenses in the medical, nursing, dental and mental health fields. Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@ Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: In DeSantis' Florida, state budget booms as public workforce runs dry
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
In Parsippany, raucous GOP mayoral primary gives voters a choice: experience or change?
PARSIPPANY — One Republican offers the experience he says is needed to run Morris County's biggest town. Another offers a youthful perspective that he says will break a pattern of overtaxation and overdevelopment. Both have sniped, shouted and hurled public accusations for nearly four years, since they took office together in 2022. As their conflict escalated, members of the township school board and the county GOP Committee have taken sides — and then switched. Their inevitable showdown will arrive with the primary election on Tuesday, June 10, when voters in the town of almost 60,000 people will choose either incumbent James Barberio or Councilman Justin Musella. The winner gets the Republican nomination for the county's only full-time mayor's office and a faceoff with Democratic candidate Pulkit Desai. While supporters of both Republicans continue to sound off on social media, the Barberio and Musella tickets are still knocking on doors to engage voters. Each has expressed confidence in victory, though no public polls have been released. On May 28, more than 100 Musella supporters braved heavy rains to gather under a gazebo for a rally at Veterans Memorial Park. The 33-year-old thanked his enthusiastic rain-soaked followers. "You know, it's becoming a theme, where no matter the weather, no matter the event, we can produce a crowd," he said. "Ultimately, our movement is fueled by people like you. Ordinary people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired when they look at Town Hall and see the decisions that are being made." "We have 13 days to go before we turn the page in our history," Musella continued. "And I truly believe we have the wind beneath our sails. But the only way we get across the finish line is if each of us help to move the ball forward." On June 2, Barberio campaigned in Lake Intervale, one of the smaller neighborhoods in town. His running mates, township council candidates Frank Neglia and Jigar Shah, had been seen on multiple occasions canvassing the community. Barberio, 64, leaned on his familiarity with the many individual neighborhoods in Parsippany, and their familiarity with him. "Most of you already know me here," said the mayor, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term. "And I know you have a lot of questions." Much of the discussion was about New Jersey's affordable housing mandate and its impact on Parsippany, where thousands of residential units are already under construction, with more to come. Like many incumbents in North Jersey, Barberio argued he was powerless to fight the mandate in the courts. He said he has focused instead on killing two birds with one proverbial stone: demolishing vacant office properties no longer generating good tax payments and replacing them with housing that will satisfy the mandate. Barberio took the issue all the way back to 2015, when the council approved a shopping center for the last parcel of undeveloped land in the Waterview office park adjoining the Intervale area. Barberio said that unpopular deal allowed his 2017 mayoral opponent, Democrat Michael Soriano, win the Intervale districts by a wide margin, helping him to defeat Barberio, a two-term incumbent at the time. "It freaked everybody out in this area, which I understand," he said. "But I also knew that what was coming next over there wasn't going to be good." He referred to the developer's threat to build 666 units of affordable housing if the shopping center was not approved. Barberio flipped the script in 2021, defeating Soriano and regaining an office he had aspired to since high school. That recollection sent him back to his early days as a young council candidate, when he lived in Lake Hiawatha after growing up in Lake Parsippany. "I thought that because I grew up in the Lake Parsippany area, everyone was going to vote for me there, and not to worry about it," he recalled. "I won every district in Lake Hiawatha, but I got killed in Lake Parsippany. I won by eight votes. I got too overconfident, but I learned a lesson. Every vote counts." Barberio's years of campaign experience, he indicated, are evidence of his many years in office. "We're going to have a lot of issues going forward when it comes to affordable housing, we truly are," he said. "You need a mayor that's experienced." Referring to Musella, he added, "You have a young kid — not a bad kid, but [he] doesn't have the experience to handle a town like Parsippany." 2025 NJ primary election: Here's a list of all contested races in North Jersey The race has seen prominent supporters change sides in recent months. Several Board of Education members initially signaled support for Musella. They were angered by tax breaks known as PILOTs — payments in lieu of taxes — that allegedly shortchanged the school district. Then-board president Andrew Choffo introduced Musella at his campaign kickoff last June, which was also attended by state Sen. Jon Bramnick, who's seeking the GOP nod for governor. Musella also had early support from Morris County Republican Committee Chair Laura Ali, who withheld an endorsement of Barberio in 2021 when he ran in a rematch with Soriano. This time around, Ali again refused to back Barberio, branding him "the highest paid and least qualified mayor in Morris County." She initially backed Musella. But in January, Ali switched sides and got behind the mayor. She said she wanted to end the feud and gear up for a competitive general election in November. "The 2025 election cycle poses significant challenges, and I strongly believe a united front is essential for ensuring Republican success," Ali wrote in a letter to both mayoral candidates. She offered to back Musella for council if he withdrew from the mayor's race. Musella said no. "Our campaign to end the cycle of corruption, over-taxation and taxpayer-funded overdevelopment in Parsippany, once and for all, cannot be intimidated," the challenger declared. Musella first ran for a council seat in the 2017 primary with the county committee-endorsed Louis Valori for mayor. Valori lost, but Musella secured a council nomination and joined Frank Neglia on a Barberio slate that swept into office that November. Neglia is back on the Barberio ticket this year along with fellow council candidate Shah. Shah is Barberio's longtime liaison to the Parsippany Indian community. Musella is running with Casey Parikh, a longtime Planning Board member and chairman, and John Bielen. Ali wasn't the only turnaround. Choffo surprised many when he switched sides and backed Barberio at the mayor's campaign announcement in February. Weeks later, Barberio announced he had reached an agreement with the school board on how to share the PILOT revenue and ensure the district receives its expected funds. Another controversy arose over the past week when Barberio announced in a campaign video that he had an reached an agreement for a memorandum of understanding between Town Hall and the school board on revenue sharing, negotiated with Choffo. Within hours, current board President Alison Cogan issued a statement saying nos agreement had bee signed and that the mayor's pronouncement was "inaccurate." Barberio responded by insisting he and Choffo had come to terms and blamed the board for not acting on "this historic agreement that would greatly benefit our students, teachers, and school system." Current board member Tim Berrios and former board member Suzy Vega-Golderer remain vocal supporters of Musella's. Both were at his rainy rally in the park. The campaign also included a failed attempt by the township council in March to censure Musella for allegedly using his elected position to get his wife out of a speeding ticket in 2023. Musella's supporters pointed to the timing of the censure, calling it politically motivated. After a public backlash — the censure vote was moved to Parsippany Hills High School to accommodate an overflow crowd — the council voted down the proposal unanimously. Other controversies along the campaign trail, amped up by furious partisan debates on local websites and social media, included an accusation that a DPW worker had stolen campaign lawn signs, and the doxxing of the worker allegedly involved. More recently came complaints of illegal ballot harvesting. Yet both candidates, in a May debate, pledged to support the primary winner in November. With no competition in the primary, the Democratic ticket is already focused on November. Leading the ticket is Desai, president of the Lake Parsippany Property Owner's Association. Running with him are council candidates Matt Kavanagh and Diya Patel. Republicans currently hold a 4-1 edge on the council. While Republicans have long held majority status on the Parsippany Council, the major parties have shared the mayor's office over the years. Barberio, currently in his third non-consecutive term, is the only Parsippany Republican to win the mayor's office in more than 30 years, and only one of two GOP candidates elected to the office in nearly half a century. More: Cronyism, corporate welfare? Parsippany rivals come out swinging in GOP mayoral debate Polls on primary day will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The early-voting period began June 3 and runs through June 8. May 20 was the deadline to register for the primary. Applications for mail-in ballots must be received by 3 p.m. June 9. Mail-in ballots must be received by the Post Office by June 10. County clerks must certify election results by June 23. The 2025 general election takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The voter registration deadline is Oct. 14. This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Parsippany NJ mayor race: GOP feud nears end in 2025 primary
