NEW CENTURY CAMPAIGN - LATEST UPDATES |
April 11, 2008
California Supreme Court Upholds L.A. Living Wage Ordinance
March 21, 2008
LAANE Reports Shows Millions In Lost Wages For Hotel Workers
About The New Century Campaign
|
Transforming the LAX Hotel Industry and Alleviating Poverty
in Nearby Communities
A coalition of community, civic and faith leaders organized by LAANE is engaged in an effort to address conditions for the 3,500 workers employed at hotels near the Los Angeles International Airport. The coalition has gathered thousands of signatures, participated in numerous rallies, passed city policy and testified at public hearings as part of a citywide mobilization in support of hotel workers on Century Boulevard.
Hotels near LAX have enjoyed the highest occupancy rates in Los Angeles, yet many workers in these hotels still live in poverty. Hotel workers in the LAX/PCH submarket earn 20% less than their counterparts in downtown L.A. Average annual earnings for LAX/PCH workers is $20,328 – barely above the federal $20,000 federal poverty threshold for a family of four. Some workers qualify for multiple government-assistance programs.
The nearby communities of Lennox, Inglewood and Hawthorne, where a large number of these workers live, suffer high rates of poverty, crime and overcrowding. One in four residents in these communities lives below the federal poverty line, a measure of extreme poverty, while more than 40% of children come from poor households.
The L.A. City Council, passed in 2006, a trio of ordinances including a living wage rate to hotel workers who work at 13 hotels on Century Boulevard near LAX. Hotels and other businesses spent nearly $1 million to collect enough signatures to qualify a ballot referendum on the ordinance. They subsequently dropped their efforts to use a ballot referendum to avoid a living wage requirement after the release of poll results showed overwhelming support for the ordinance among voters. A compromise ordinance that would have phased in the living wage standards in three steps failed to mollify opponents in the business community, who have sued to stop the law on procedural grounds.
As the battle is fought in the courts, LAANE is continuing to fight for the rights of hotel workers, leading a pilgrimage in support of housekeepers who face high injury rates and supporting the boycott of the Hilton LAX, which has undertaken severe retaliatory actions against workers who engaged in organizing activities and exercised their free speech rights. LAANE is also continuing to monitor the “tip protection” provision of the LAX Enhancement Zone Ordinance, which ensures that LAX waiters and banquet workers receive the service charges they are owed.
|
 |
