Battle over $30 wage for tourism staff is heating up

It’s ‘War of the Roses’ in L.A. as business and labor each seek upper hand, an official says.

- BY DAVID ZAHNISER AND SUHAUNA HUSSAIN

MANNY MORALES, a member of Unite Here, joins dozens cheering a speaker ahead of the vote in May.

It’s the summer of the burn-it-down ballot measure in Los Angeles.

For the last three months, labor unions and business groups have been locked in a protracted fight over a law, approved by the City Council in May, hiking the minimum wage for hotel employees and workers at Los Angeles International Airport to $30 per hour by 2028.

Both sides, in an attempt to gain the upper hand, have proposed ballot measures that, if approved, would disrupt the city in enormous ways, having repercussions that would go well beyond the hourly pay of housekeepers, valets and LAX skycaps.

Unite Here Local 11, the politically powerful union that represents hotel and restaurant workers, is looking to put four ballot proposals before voters that, according to critics, would wreak havoc on the city’s economy. Business leaders, in turn, are under fire for filing a ballot petition to repeal the city’s $800-million business tax — a move denounced by city officials, who say it would gut funding for police and other essential services.

L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said the arms race between business and labor is spinning out of control, in large part because of a lack of leadership at City Hall. As the battle intensifies, no one has been willing to broker a compromise between the two sides, said Rodriguez, who voted against the $30 minimum wage.

“We've entered this War of the Roses because we don’t have anyone bringing the parties into a room to negotiate a balance that works for everybody, that can help sustain business and address the needs of the workers,” she said. “In the absence of that, everyone is taking matters into their own hands — and that is reckless, sloppy and dangerous.”