L.A. City Council votes for minimum-wage hike to $15.37 at big hotels

[Omaha Steve]

Source: LA Times

By EMILY ALPERT REYES, DAVID ZAHNISER

Big hotels in Los Angeles will soon be required to pay at least $15.37 an hour to their workers – one of the highest minimum wage requirements in the country.

The City Council voted 12 to 3 on Wednesday to impose the wage requirements on large hotels, handing a major victory to organized labor and a defeat to business groups. Lawmakers said the measure would pull thousands of hotel workers out of poverty, helping them provide for their families.

“We will change lives by increasing what people are making," said Councilman Paul Koretz.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks spoke against the measure, saying wage initiatives should not be “just for a specific union or industry or business.” He said his South Los Angeles district cannot afford to see more workers lose their jobs.

FULL story at link.



Blanca Aldama celebrates after the Los Angeles City Council tentatively approved a $15.37-an-hour minimum wage for workers at big hotels. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hotel-minimum-wage-20140924-story.html

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[shenmue]

1. Thread here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025581049

[babylonsister]

2. omg, the 'brown people' are getting a raise?

My family were immigrants, so those who claim 'certain people' shouldn't be here, where did you come from?

[brer cat]

3. Wonderful news, Steve.

Thanks for posting. K&R

[951-Riverside]

4. Good, This will force independent hotels out of business.

They cater to druggies and prostitutes anyway and the increased costs passed onto consumers will insure that other low brow trash won't be able to afford a room.

Good riddance.

[sheshe2]

5. Wonderful!

Hot Damn!

[Veganhealedme]

6. That's awesome!! recced nt

[daleanime]

7. K&R....

[ReRe]

8. Looks good on the surface...

... but the devil's in the details. Justice delayed = justice denied. I say give the hotel employees a flat $15 across the board as of Jan 1, 2015 and be done with it. If the hotels say no, they take their L.A. business licenses away from them. No Mr Nice Guy, hotels.

[SoapBox]

9. Oh boy...I'm gonna get flamed for this.

I agree with Parks (and that's VERY rare).

I do not think that the City Council should be passing such an industry specific pay measure.

There is also nothing that requires hotels to maintain xxx staffing levels...they will simply cut back on staff numbers and/or hours.

This increased costs must be covered from some sources...it is naive to think that they will simply raise rates to cover the costs of housekeepers.

Don't get me wrong...I support labor and I support unions but I support common sense too.

[Psephos]

10. And I agree with you...

...and that's pretty rare, too.

The iron law of economics is that when the price of a good goes up, use of it goes down.

The good in this case is the cost of labor.

[jamzrockz]

11. I have a problem with this line

There is also nothing that requires hotels to maintain xxx staffing levels...they will simply cut back on staff numbers and/or hours.

There is something that requires hotels to maintain xxx staffing and that is the need for x number of staff. My problem is that it only applies to "big" hotels (which doesn't necessarily mean big profit). I don't think there is anything special about hotel worker or hotel industry to tailor this law around them.

So yea, they will increase cost, trim a few hrs here and there and take a bit of a hit from profit. But they will make it work as long as the business is still profitable.

[Sparhawk60]

12. Bottom Line? Good

My stock answer to raising the minimum wage for low skilled workers is that the corporation will just be pushed to automate the labor force. But I do not see that happening in this case. Housekeeping is very labor intensive and I do not see robots being able to do that job any time soon.

I also disagree that the “good” in question is labor, rather the good in question is a upper scale motel room in LA. Labor is just one cost of that good. The good is also fairly inelastic, people want to stay in nice motels, a slight increase in the cost of the motel room will not make people cancel their trips of make them stay at a lower rated motel.

Bottom line, I think this is a move in the right direction, and tacking on a few dollars to my motel bill will not keep me away.


Sparhawk