LAX hotels may fight proposed living wage

As workers and their union backers rallied Friday on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall for a living wage at hotels near LAX, owners of the 13 buildings threatened to put a referendum on the issue before voters next May.

The workers at the Century Boulevard hotels are pushing the City Council to vote Wednesday to extend the city’s living wage rules to them. The council appears likely to do so.

The law applies only to contractors doing work for the city, but the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy is arguing that it should also be applied to the hotels, based on their proximity to the city-owned airport.

If that happens, most of the 3,500 hotel workers would see their wages increase to $10.64 an hour.

Supporters of the law say that means the average annual salary would rise from $20,000 to $22,000.

Two other provisions would require the hotel owners to share a banquet-service fee with employees and would require hotels, if they are sold, to retain workers.

“How can any business deny them when they have the resources and money to pay their wages?” Los Angeles County Federation of Labor chief Maria Elena Durazo said at the rally. “I urge the business community to rethink their position.”

Also attending the rally were Assemblywomen Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), who said they believe that hotel owners can afford the increased wages.

Harvey Englander, the lobbyist for the owners, said Friday that if the council passes the ordinance the owners might sponsor a referendum to rescind the law.

“It’s not an issue of afford it or not afford it,” said Englander. “It’s an issue of whether the hotels will remain competitive in the marketplace and whether the city of Los Angeles should be regulating the commerce of private companies.”

The influential Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has sided with the hotel owners, while unions are backing the hotel workers, who aren’t unionized.

steve.hymon@latimes.com