Hahn sees a ‘living wage’ ballot win

Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who forcefully advocated an extension of the city’s “living wage” law to cover workers at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport, predicted Friday that the matter would wind up on the May ballot and that voters would endorse the extension.

Facing off politely with George Kieffer, a lawyer and lobbyist working with the hotels, Hahn defended the council’s decision to apply the living wage to workers at the hotels. The council’s move represents a novel extension of the law, which originally was intended to apply only to companies doing business with the city, but Hahn noted that the council consulted the city attorney and chief legislative analyst before voting on the matter.

Representatives of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the hotels, alarmed by the extension effort, have gathered signatures to force a ballot review of the council decision. Speaking before a breakfast group at the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, Kieffer asked for Hahn’s help in averting that showdown.

“We need your help,” he said, “so we don’t have a big battle in May.”

Hahn was smilingly unsympathetic. “ ‘Cause you’ll lose,” she said with a grin.

She and other advocates of the law argue that it is needed to improve conditions for workers at the Century Boulevard corridor hotels, which provide a gateway to the city for many visitors. In her remarks to the forum Friday, Hahn proposed building a mini-convention center in that area, which she said could bring in smaller conventions and add $26 million a year to the city treasury from increased tourism.

But she conceded that the city’s decision to apply its living wage rules to the hotels was controversial and viewed by some as “kind of a stretch” of the original ordinance. Passed over the objections of then-Mayor Richard Riordan, the living wage law requires that all large companies that do business with the city government agree to pay salaries above the state and federal minimum wage, sometimes with benefits.

Kieffer argued, however, that the airport hotels in effect already pay workers considerably more than that amount, especially when tips are considered. In addition, he said the hotels spend a higher percentage of their revenue on salaries than do other hotels in Los Angeles County.

Given the threat of a May election, representatives of the two sides are meeting over the next week or so, with some trying to cut a deal that would allow the ballot measure to be withdrawn. Kieffer and other business representatives would like to see Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa take charge of those talks. The deadline is fast approaching because proponents of the election have already filed their signatures, and the city has only 20 days from that filing to act.

On Friday, however, Hahn indicated that she was not among those eager to see the matter settled.

“I still want to go,” she said of the May election. “I think the people will stand on our side on this one.”

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