Latest news with #UniteHereLocal11
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028. The group, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, is hoping to persuade voters to repeal the ordinance. But first, the alliance would need to gather about 93,000 signatures within 30 days to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election. Phil Singer, a spokesperson for the alliance, said the wage increase "threatens revenue Los Angeles urgently needs" — and its standing as the host of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. "Small businesses will be forced to shut down, workers will lose their jobs, and the economic fallout will stretch across the city," Singer said in an email. "We're fighting for all of it: the city's future, the jobs that sustain our communities, and the millions of guests the tourism industry proudly serves year after year." The new ballot measure campaign comes just two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the minimum wage legislation into law. The wage ordinance has been hotly opposed by an array of L.A. business organizations, which argue that it increases wages in the tourism industry too much and too quickly. However, it was welcomed by unions representing hotel and airport employees, which have supported many of the politicians who backed the measure. The alliance's campaign committee has received major funding from Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., Singer said. The group's petition, submitted to the city clerk's office, was signed by five businesspeople, including Greg Plummer, operator of an LAX concession company; Mark Beccaria, a partner with the Hotel Angeleno on L.A.'s Westside; and Alec Mesropian, advocacy manager with the organization known as BizFed. The alliance is targeting a law that's slated to push the hourly minimum wage to $22.50 on July 1 for housekeepers, parking attendants and hotel restaurant workers, as well as LAX skycaps, baggage handlers and concession employees. The wage would jump to $25 in 2026 and $27.50 in 2027. The wage increase was spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11, the hotel and restaurant worker union, and by Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, which represents private-sector airport workers. Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, called the business group's proposal "shameful" and promised his union's members would go "toe to toe out on the streets" with the alliance's signature gatherers. "The hotel industry's greed is limitless," Petersen said. "They would rather spend millions getting them to sign this petition than pay their workers enough to live in Los Angeles. It's shameful, but we're confident that Angelenos will see through their deceptions and stand with workers." Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state's. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Backers of the airport and hotel minimum wage hikes say they will help some of the region's lowest paid workers cover the rising cost of rent and food, while also giving them more disposable income to spend locally, delivering a boost to the region's economy. Detractors say it will undermine efforts by L.A.'s tourism industry to recover from the decline in business that was sparked by the outbreak of COVID-19 five years ago. They contend the ordinance will lead to layoffs, while also chilling development of new hotels. The ordinance also requires airport and hotel businesses to provide an hourly healthcare payment — on top of the minimum wage — that starts at $7.65 in July and is expected to go up each year. (Hotels will be exempted from that requirement until 2026.) Once the healthcare requirement is included, some businesses will be required to pay their workers an additional 60% over a three-year period, opponents of the wage increase say. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028. The group, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, is hoping to persuade voters to repeal the ordinance. But first, the alliance would need to gather about 93,000 signatures within 30 days to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election. Phil Singer, a spokesperson for the alliance, said the wage increase 'threatens revenue Los Angeles urgently needs' — and its standing as the host of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 'Small businesses will be forced to shut down, workers will lose their jobs, and the economic fallout will stretch across the city,' Singer said in an email. 'We're fighting for all of it: the city's future, the jobs that sustain our communities, and the millions of guests the tourism industry proudly serves year after year.' The new ballot measure campaign comes just two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the minimum wage legislation into law. The wage ordinance has been hotly opposed by an array of L.A. business organizations, which argue that it increases wages in the tourism industry too much and too quickly. However, it was welcomed by unions representing hotel and airport employees, which have supported many of the politicians who backed the measure. The alliance's campaign committee has received major funding from Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., Singer said. The group's petition, submitted to the city clerk's office, was signed by five businesspeople, including Greg Plummer, operator of an LAX concession company; Mark Beccaria, a partner with the Hotel Angeleno on L.A.'s Westside; and Alec Mesropian, advocacy manager with the organization known as BizFed. The alliance is targeting a law that's slated to push the hourly minimum wage to $22.50 on July 1 for housekeepers, parking attendants and hotel restaurant workers, as well as LAX skycaps, baggage handlers and concession employees. The wage would jump to $25 in 2026 and $27.50 in 2027. The wage increase was spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11, the hotel and restaurant worker union, and by Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, which represents private-sector airport workers. Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, called the business group's proposal 'shameful' and promised his union's members would go 'toe to toe out on the streets' with the alliance's signature gatherers. 'The hotel industry's greed is limitless,' Petersen said. 'They would rather spend millions getting them to sign this petition than pay their workers enough to live in Los Angeles. It's shameful, but we're confident that Angelenos will see through their deceptions and stand with workers.' Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state's. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Backers of the airport and hotel minimum wage hikes say they will help some of the region's lowest paid workers cover the rising cost of rent and food, while also giving them more disposable income to spend locally, delivering a boost to the region's economy. Detractors say it will undermine efforts by L.A.'s tourism industry to recover from the decline in business that was sparked by the outbreak of COVID-19 five years ago. They contend the ordinance will lead to layoffs, while also chilling development of new hotels. The ordinance also requires airport and hotel businesses to provide an hourly healthcare payment — on top of the minimum wage — that starts at $7.65 in July and is expected to go up each year. (Hotels will be exempted from that requirement until 2026.) Once the healthcare requirement is included, some businesses will be required to pay their workers an additional 60% over a three-year period, opponents of the wage increase say.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
L.A. council members were told a vote could violate public meeting law. They voted anyway
When Los Angeles City Council members took up a plan to hike the wages of tourism workers this week, they received some carefully worded advice from city lawyers: Don't vote on this yet. Senior Assistant City Atty. Michael J. Dundas advised them on Wednesday — deep into their meeting — that his office had not yet conducted a final legal review of the flurry of last-minute changes they requested earlier in the day. Dundas recommended that the council delay its vote for two days to comply with the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's open meeting law. "We advise that the posted agenda for today's meeting provides insufficient notice under the Brown Act for first consideration and adoption of an ordinance to increase the wages and health benefits for hotel and airport workers," Dundas wrote. The council pressed ahead anyway, voting 12-3 to increase the minimum wage of those workers to $30 per hour by 2028, despite objections from business groups, hotel owners and airport businesses. Read more: L.A. council backs $30 minimum wage for hotels, despite warnings from tourism industry Then, on Friday, the council conducted a do-over vote, taking up the rewritten wage measure at a special noon meeting — one called only the day before. The result was the same, with the measure passing again, 12-3. Some in the hotel industry questioned why Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who runs the meetings, insisted on moving forward Wednesday, even after the lawyers' warning. Jackie Filla, president and chief executive of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles, said the decision to proceed Wednesday gave a political boost to Unite Here Local 11, which represents hotel workers. The union had already scheduled an election for Thursday for its members to vote on whether to increase their dues. By approving the $30 per hour minimum wage on Wednesday, the council gave the union a potent selling point for the proposed dues increase, Filla said. "It looks like it was in Unite Here's financial interest to have that timing," she said. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who opposed the wage increases, was more blunt. "It was clear that Marqueece intended to be as helpful as possible" to Unite Here Local 11, "even if it meant violating the Brown Act," she said. Harris-Dawson spokesperson Rhonda Mitchell declined to say why her boss pushed for a wage vote on Wednesday after receiving the legal advice about the Brown Act. That law requires local governments to take additional public comment if a legislative proposal has changed substantially during a meeting. Mitchell, in a text message, said Harris-Dawson scheduled the new wage vote for Friday because of a mistake by city lawyers. "The item was re-agendized because of a clerical error on the City Attorney's part — and this is the correction," she said. Mitchell did not provide details on the error. However, the wording on the two meeting agendas is indeed different. Read more: Faced with a $30 minimum wage, hotel investors start looking outside L.A. Wednesday's agenda called for the council to ask city lawyers to "prepare and present" amendments to the wage laws. Friday's agenda called for the council to "present and adopt" the proposed changes. Maria Hernandez, a spokesperson for Unite Here Local 11, said in an email that her union does not control the City Council's schedule. The union's vote on higher dues involved not just its L.A. members but also thousands of workers in Orange County and Arizona, Hernandez said. "The timing of LA City Council votes is not up to us (sadly!) — in fact we were expecting a vote more than a year ago — nor would the precise timing be salient to our members," she said. Hernandez said Unite Here Local 11 members voted "overwhelmingly" on Thursday to increase their dues, allowing the union to double the size of its strike fund and pay for "an army of organizers" for the next round of labor talks. She did not disclose the size of the dues increase. Dundas' memo, written on behalf of City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, was submitted late in Wednesday's deliberations, after council members requested a number of changes to the minimum wage ordinance. At one point, they took a recess so their lawyers could work on the changes. By the time the lawyers emerged with the new language, Dundas' memo was pinned to the public bulletin board in the council chamber, where spectators quickly snapped screenshots. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Long Beach Convention Center operator reaches deal with union after wage complaint
The Southern California union representing hospitality workers has reached a deal to secure employment for about 100 workers at the Long Beach Convention Center. The agreement between United Here Local 11 and ASM Global, the company that operates the city-owned convention center, resolves a dispute that erupted last month after the union accused a subcontractor of underpaying workers and avoiding payroll taxes. After the union filed a complaint with the state about the subcontractor, Costa Mesa-based event management company 1Fifty1 Inc., ASM Global moved to end its ties with the business. The new agreement will cover about 100 dishwashers, cooks, servers, bartenders and cleaners, as well as about 100 workers formerly employed by 1Fifty1 who cleaned public areas such as bathrooms, broke down and set up event spaces and performed groundskeeper services. The deal secures a total wage boost of $12 per hour over the course of the three-year contract, free family health insurance, and a 400% increase in pension contributions, according to the union. The agreement also limits the company's use of temporary agency workers. Union members ratified the agreement in a vote held Friday and Saturday. 'Our members again showed extraordinary courage and unity — they refused to settle until the workers exploited by the temporary agency 1Fifty1 won justice,' Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, said in a statement. Stacey Escudero, a spokesperson for ASM Global, said that the company has reached out to all the former 1Fifty1 employees for whom it has contact information and that many already have been hired. 'We are proud to share that UNITE HERE and ASM Global have reached a new agreement reinforcing our shared commitment to good jobs, fair wages, and outstanding service at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center,' Escudero said in an emailed statement. Unite Here Local 11 had filed a complaint with the California labor commissioner's office March 13, alleging that 1Fifty1 paid convention workers under the table with cash in envelopes, violating labor laws that require pay stubs showing hours worked and tax deductions. The complaint also alleged that 1Fifty1failed to pay some employees the minimum wage for Long Beach concessionaire workers, currently set at $17.97 an hour, as well as overtime wages for employees who worked seven- or eight-hour shifts seven days a week. The labor commissioner's office is investigating the claims. 1Fifty1 did not respond to a request for comment on the deal. The company previously said the union's allegations were untrue.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After 101 years, the doors close on L.A.'s Original Pantry Cafe
Downtown Los Angeles on Sunday lost another iconic eatery with the closure of the Original Pantry Cafe, which had been serving up hot coffee, burgers and breakfast platters since 1924. News of the planned closure drew brisk business as patrons sought a farewell meal at the diner on the corner of 9th and South Figueroa streets. The shuttering itself was bitter. Once doors were closed, the diner's remaining 25 workers gathered inside, received manila envelopes containing their final checks and, with support from their labor union, refused to leave. "It's still open from their perspective," said Kurt Petersen, co-president of the Unite Here Local 11 labor union that Petersen said had represented workers at the diner for decades. "They told management they want them to change their mind." The restaurant built its Los Angeles legacy not on elegant fare (it had a mediocre 3.7 rating on Yelp) but on its 24-hour service, making it a haven for night owls and early risers. The diner had survived past threats. It dodged a freeway project in the 1950s, moving its location to make way for an off-ramp. Former Mayor Richard Riordan took over the restaurant in 1981 as part of a larger land deal. 'When I fell in love with the Pantry, I was at breakfast, drinking coffee, and I had a book I was reading,' Riordan was quoted as saying in The Times. 'I was very relaxed and the waiter came over and said, 'If you want to read, the library's at 5th and Hope.' I fell in love with it right then.' But the isolation policies of the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a heavy blow, forcing the diner to limit its hours. Despite $1.7 million in federal loans (all but $500,000 of it forgiven) to preserve 82 jobs at the restaurant, workers said only about two dozen employees remained by Sunday's closure. Los Angeles court records show a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in April 2023 on behalf of Pantry workers alleging unpaid wages for overtime, rest and meal breaks. Two weeks later, Riordan died. The wage case remained in settlement talks as recently as February, filings show. Ownership of the diner transferred to Riordan's trust, which said it sought to sell the asset to support its philanthropic endeavors. The union attempted to negotiate terms that would require any new owner to honor the existing contract. That didn't happen, and the labor union filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board. Read more: The Original Pantry Cafe owner threatens to close historic diner over union contract dispute Attorney Carl McKinzie, chief executive officer of the trust's company that operates the Pantry, declined comment on Sunday. He referred a reporter to a lengthy prepared statement given to media earlier in the week saying sales talks have been ongoing since last summer. After the diner's doors closed Sunday, a representative of the trust arrived and attempted to distribute envelopes containing final paychecks. When workers would not step up to take them, she set them on a table. "They left the envelope on the table and left out the back," said a table server who gave only his first name, Alex. He said he had been employed at the diner 24 years. "No thank you. She don't say nothing." When workers attempted to stay behind, management called L.A. police, and officers eventually arrived to tell employees they faced trespass charges if they remained. The Pantry's workers left without incident, but Petersen from the union remained and was issued a citation, a union representative said. Alex was not certain what might happen next week, other than that the union would have people out front with placards and signs. Union officials said they did not know if there was already a new owner in the wings. The Pantry's online ordering service remained operational Sunday. A Times reporter was able to put in a takeout order for French toast first thing Wednesday. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
