A new LAANE report has found that hotel workers near Los Angeles International Airport have lost an estimated $4.6 million dollars due to the continued opposition of hotels to a living wage law passed in 2007. “Lost Wages, Soaring Revenue” also finds that the earnings of LAX hotels increased by an estimated $30.1 million dollars over the last year.
 |
City Hall news conference announcing new report on hotel workers' lost wages. |
The report was released at a City Hall News Conference attended by dozens of hotel workers and community leaders, who were joined by City Councilmembers Janice Hahn, Bill Rosendahl and Richard Alarcon. “The $4.6 million in lost living wages could have made a significant impact in these hotel workers’ lives,” said Hahn, who sponsored the living wage law. “The hotels should stop fighting this ordinance with lawsuits and referendums, and start paying their workers a living wage.”
On average, individual workers lost between $350 and $4044 a year, depending on job classification.
LAANE led the effort to apply the city’s existing living wage rate of $10.64 an hour ($9.39 for those with employer-provided health benefits) to thousands of hotel workers who work at 13 hotels on Century Boulevard near LAX. These hotels enjoy the highest occupancy rates in Los Angeles, yet their workers on average earn far less than their counterparts in the rest of L.A. County. Many live in the nearby communities of Lennox, Inglewood and Hawthorne, which suffer high rates of poverty, crime and overcrowding.
While the living wage law has been upheld by the California Court of Appeals, opponents have filed a petition with the state Supreme Court. The high court is expected to rule within the next month whether it will hear the case. In the meantime, LAANE and its community partners are maintaining pressure on the hotels to stop fighting the living wage.
"The hotel's refusal to abide by the living wage ordinance will motivate us even more to reiterate our solidarity for the underpaid hotel workers and their rights," said Imam Shakeel Syed, Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. "The hotel industry is booming and Century Boulevard hotel workers deserve to share in that success and earn a living wage to support their families with dignity."
|
