Hotel worker victory!

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on November 16, 2006 - 8:25pm.

I thought you might like to know that the LA City Council just passed a "living wage" ordinance (11-3 vote) requiring the twelve LAX-area/Century Blvd. luxury hotels to pay their employees a minimum of $10.65/hour. This is a historic decision as these highly profitable) hotels have no direct city contracts, the normal scope of living wage ordinance. (Though they, of course, benefit hugely from the public airport business right next door.) A few US cities have begun to expand the scope of living wage ordinances to private-sector but stratgic industries. The fact that LA has taken a step to join this emerging movement is momentous, given its size/influence and historically intense anti-union record. ("If you can organize here, you can organize anywhere, it's up to you, LA, LA," to paraphrase Frank Sinatra on New York City!)

This is a big victory for Unite Here, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), and 3500 hotel workers who work in the Century Blvd. corridor ncluding many Latino/as and working others). They have been organzing hard for over a year to improve the working conditions in this important economic "zone." The Sep. 28th civil disobedience action on Century Blvd.--in which 300+ Los Angelinos got arrested, include some of us Fullerites and PMCers--was designed to draw public attention to this campaign and put pressure on decision-makers. Maybe it helped!

Councilwoman Janice Hahn deserves special credit for spear-heading the initiative. She was one of several Council members who even participated in actions outside the hotels, like the Sep. 28th arrests. As an Anabaptist-minded Christian, I might dub her a "godly magistrate." (Just FYI, Bernard Parks, Dennis Zine, and Greig Smith were the opposing votes.)

So, a limited but significant development, and a fine example of what I would call "living democracy" at work. Worthy of celebrating, in my book, so drink a toast to the hotel workes tonight! The (global corporate) forces oppossed to such initiatives are, of course, still powerful realities, but this campaign has created a little breathing space for imagining a different economic "house" for our hard-working neighbors and their children to live in (as Mark Lau Branson talked about in chapel yesterday).

Peace in Christ,

Kent

PS--I believe the Glendale Hilton is a separate situation and not affected by the Council decision. Hopefully Ryan Thompson can keep us up to speed on this local and ongoing CLUE effort effort for greater worker justice.

PPS--The broader immigrant movement--to which the hotel workers were connected--demonstrated some significant political muscle in the last election. Hard-line, anti-immigrant rhetoric/stances cost Republicans some House seats. (The Latino vote for Republicans went down from 45% in 2004 to 30% in 2006.) This next year will be a crucial window of opportunity to get more balanced and comprehensive immigration reform legistlation passed (which Prez. Bush is actually open to!), rather than the "enforcement only"/build a 700-mile wall on the border to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars approach, which, unfortunately got approved before the election. Maybe someone will wise up about how it is a lot easier not to build a wall in the first place than to tear it down years later...or not to start a war than to stop the bleeding after you have!

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