Justice on the March
News From Los Angeles and Around the Country

Los Angeles

Community and Faith Leaders Vow to Continue
Living Wage Fight for LAX Hotel Workers in Wake
of Legal Ruling
Community and faith leaders have condemned a May 4th Superior Court ruling that bars implementation of a City of Los Angeles law that would have provided a living wage for workers at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport, and have renewed their call for LAX hotels to help lift their workers out of poverty by paying them a living wage.

"This ruling should be a wake-up call to people of good faith across Los Angeles that Century Boulevard hotels, led by the LAX Hilton, are determined to deny their own workers decent wages and a better life," said Rev. Anna Olson, Deputy Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). "The hotels' action runs counter to the shared values of our city and country, and the right of hard-working men and women to raise their families in dignity." More

Ports of L.A. and Long Beach Agree to Coalition
Plan to Revamp Short-Haul Trucking
On April 13, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced their plan to reduce air pollution from dockside trucking by 80 percent over five years and improve working conditions for truck drivers. The ports’ plan is based on a proposal that was developed by the LAANE-staffed Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports and unveiled at a press conference and rally in late March. The coalition brings together environmental, labor, community, religious and public health organizations, including the Change To Win Labor Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and LAANE.

Under the plan, the roughly 16,000 diesel trucks that move goods from the docks to regional locations would be replaced or retrofitted and their drivers employed by trucking companies that would bid on contracts that include environmental and labor standards in order to gain access to
the ports.

On March 29, after a morning telepress conference, hundreds of residents and port drivers were joined by regional politicians, influential activists and key port officials at a Wilmington rally in support of the plan.

“It’s a broken system,” said Patricia Castellanos, Co-Director of the L.A. ports campaign. “This industry fails workers, businesses, neighbors and anyone who drives a car on truck-congested freeways or breathes the air in Southern California.”

Port trucks produce 30 to 40 percent of port-generated pollution, making them a significant health hazard. Residents near the ports suffer from asthma and other respiratory diseases and have some of the highest incidences of cancer in the region. Meanwhile, port truckers—who are misclassified as independent contractors—earn low pay, endure sharecropper-like conditions and do not have the resources to properly maintain their trucks.

Members of the Coalition, including LAANE, have been appointed to a task force set up by the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach to make recommendations to the harbor commissions on the proposed new system.

Elected Officials Endorse Boycott of LAX Hilton
Assemblymember Mike Eng joined Los Angeles City Councilmembers Janice Hahn and Ed Reyes at a press conference on April 13 to announce that 32 federal, state and local elected officials have endorsed the boycott of the LAX Hilton.

Hotel workers requested a boycott of the Hilton last June in response to the hotel’s alleged intimidation and harassment of workers attempting to organize in support of union representation. Since then, the boycott has cost the Hilton millions of dollars in lost business.

The second-largest hotel in Southern California, the LAX Hilton has been at the center of a year-long effort to improve conditions for thousands of hotel workers on Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport. The hotel spent nearly $235,000 to oppose a living wage law enacted last November for LAX hotel workers.

Federal charges have also been filed against the LAX Hilton for 22 separate alleged violations of federal labor law including illegal firings, physical assault, denial of paychecks to union supporters, interrogations and suspensions. Last month, the hotel fired two workers who participated in a fast in support of the living wage. The National Labor Relations Board has set a hearing date on the charges for May 11.

Political, religious, labor and community leaders across Los Angeles have joined the boycott against the LAX Hilton, refusing to eat, meet or sleep at the hotel.

City Council to Examine Grocery Industry Practices as Communities Call for End to Redlining and Improved Job Quality
In the wake of the release of a Blue Ribbon Commission Report on conditions in the region’s supermarkets, a Los Angeles City Council committee heard testimony last month from community leaders and workers, who painted a bleak picture of an industry that has abandoned its responsibility to provide healthy food and quality jobs to all parts of the city.

“Scarce grocery resources in South Los Angeles diminish our quality of life, our dignity, our humanity,” said Gwendolyn Flynn, policy director with Los Angeles Community Health Councils and a member of the LAANE-initiated L.A. Grocery Worker and Community Health Coalition, who testified at the hearing. “The message is that our lives aren’t valued.”

After hearing testimony, the Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee voted to fund a study of the impacts of changes in the grocery industry on the city, its economy and its residents.

The report released last month by a Blue Ribbon Commission of religious, business, and community leaders called on city and industry leaders to address a two-tier system that affects not only grocery workers but residents in less-affluent parts of Los Angeles who lack access to low-cost healthy food. (For more information about the Blue Ribbon Commission, visit LAgroceryCommission.org.)

The commissioners heard testimony from health care experts, community members and grocery workers, who have seen the quality of jobs in their industry decline dramatically since the major chains imposed a new contract on workers following the four-and-a-half-month strike and lockout that ended in March 2004.

LAANE helped to organize the hearing and publish the report as part of its campaign to end redlining in the grocery industry and improve job quality for grocery workers.

Albertsons Workers Authorize Strike
On March 25, Albertsons workers from all over Southern California authorized the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) to call a strike if an agreement could not be reached with the market’s parent company, Supervalu Inc.

Contract negotiations between the parent companies of Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons and the UFCW (which represents tens of thousands of grocery workers throughout Southern California) have been extended several times in the past weeks as workers hope to avoid another strike and lockout like that of 2004, which saw workers lose homes and make painful sacrifices.

In response to the strike authorization vote by Albertsons workers, the other chains vowed a reprise of the lockouts they implemented three years ago in the event of a strike. The outcome of the current negotiations could determine the fate of the grocery industry for years to come.

At a Blue Ribbon Commission hearing organized with LAANE’s help earlier this year, researchers from the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center found dramatic drops in health coverage for grocery employees following the contract signed after the last strike and lockout. That contract created a two-tier system under which new hires are paid just above minimum wage and must wait 12-18 months for individual coverage and 30 months for family coverage. The system has resulted in high turnover and low morale.

Wackenhut Workers Report Widespread Violations, City Launches Investigation Into Security Firm
Current and former employees of Wackenhut, the City of Los Angeles’ largest security contractor, testified about racial and sexual discrimination, illegal retaliation against workers and poor performance by the company at a February hearing organized by the Stand for Security Coalition, of which LAANE is a member.

Congresswoman Diane Watson, State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and Assemblymember Mervyn Dymally served as chairs of the hearing, which took testimony from security workers from as far away as South Africa.

The second-largest private security company in the United States, Wackenhut has more than $5 million in contracts with the City of Los Angeles to protect buildings that include the Watts and Van Nuys city halls.

“Wackenhut is in a position to lead efforts to raise standards in the industry. Yet the company is standing in the way of security officers in Los Angeles and around the country trying to improve their lives,” said Thembekila Coleman-Smart, a lead community organizer for the Stand for Security Coalition.

Following the hearing, Coalition leaders met with city officials and presented extensive documentation of Wackenhut’s poor record and alleged violations of the city’s Responsible Contractor Ordinance, which was adopted in 2000 following a LAANE-led campaign. The law ensures compliance with labor laws by city contractors, lessees and financial assistance recipients. The city has begun an investigation into the firm that could lead to a decision to bar the company from future contracts.

Around the Nation

Maryland House Passes First Statewide
Living Wage Law
Maryland took the lead in 1994 when Baltimore—its most populous city—was the first in the nation to adopt a municipal living wage law. A Maryland House vote in April could make Maryland the first in the nation to pass a statewide living wage law. The law would apply to employers contracting with the state for $100,000 or more and mandate a wage of between $8.50 and $11.30 per hour, depending on the region in the state. The state Senate and its Democratic governor are expected to endorse the bill, which passed the House on a strictly party-line vote.

East Bay Hotel Defies Emeryville Living Wage Law
Eleven months after the enactment by popular vote of a living wage law for hospitality workers in the East Bay City of Emeryville, the recalcitrant Woodfin Suites Hotel has begun to comply with the ordinance. But the hotel has tried to fire workers who supported the policy, an apparent violation of the law’s
anti-retaliation provisions.

Emeryville passed the first-in-the-nation industry-based living wage law in 2005 after a campaign led by LAANE’s partner, the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE). The law mandated that the four large hotels in the small but economically vital city pay a minimum wage of $9 per hour to workers and provide overtime pay to housekeepers required to clean more than 5,000 square feet of floor space (about ten rooms) per day.

The hotel’s decision to comply with the law came after receiving pressure from city officials, community members and workers. Workers have sued to collect $160,000 in back wages they are owed under the living wage law for the 11-month delay and for alleged illegal retaliation for speaking out in support of the ordinance. For more information, visit www.WorkingEastBay.org.