PARK’S PLACE-When you were in elementary school, do you remember being asked what you wanted to be when you grew up? You might’ve answered a doctor, lawyer, basketball player, veterinarian…now housekeeper, valet or bellhop may be added to that list.
Last Wednesday, Council adopted to raise the wages of those working at hotels with 300 or more rooms to $15.37 on July 1, 2015 not including tips.
Those who work at hotels with 150 or more rooms will see their wages rise on July 1, 2016. Myself, and Councilmember Mitchell Englander voted no. Make no mistake this is a union ordinance pushed forth by councilmembers whose livelihoods are indebted to the unions. Maria Elena Durazo might as well be Council president.
Dust off your resumes in time for July next year. Everyone in LA is going to want to work at a big hotel and you can bet the competition will be fierce. Having a Bachelor’s degree or higher might even be a requirement!
There’s nothing wrong with being a domestic or wanting to work in the service field. There is purpose in all (legal) work. It’s unfortunate that one sector of our economy has been given preference due to lecherous unions who need to increase their membership ranks.
I’ve said all that I can say about this flawed ordinance. We can’t have jobs without the businesses to employ these people. I hope businesses won’t be catastrophically affected, but if they are, I hope they send a message loud and clear to the city, whether that be though relocating, or putting their money behind candidates who will actually improve their bottom line, that they won’t stand for such blatant disregard of their concerns and needs.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association was one such organization who made it clear that the wage hike will result in job loss, close to 1,500 jobs.
This may be the first time an effort was conceived to "better the working class" with specific emphasis on the lowest wage earners, but this wage increase will beget the unintended consequence of generating perhaps the greatest unemployment increase in the last decade. These statements were well documented by several business groups during the council debate (the reports totaled over 70 pages), but they went unheeded by those councilmembers that voted in favor of the ordinance.
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It looks like Governor Jerry Brown finished off a bad batch of our Council Kool-Aid. Tuesday, he approved a statewide ban of single-use plastic bags at grocery stores and markets- making California the first state to do so. The American Progressive Bag Alliance said they plan on repealing the law via a referendum on the November 2016 ballot.
This ban was passed under the guise of being good for the environment. I’m still waiting for the day when I get a report with quantifiable evidence and research that shows that this ban has lessened pollution/landfill waste, has reduced marine life deaths, etc., all the things that proponents of this bill said would happen. I’m not holding my breath. Since returning to paper bags, I’m sure I’ll get faster proof of deforestation. If you want to go down the rabbit hole on the internet, you’ll find paper v. plastic is a highly contentious debate, with some saying they’re equally bad and you shouldn’t use either.
I don’t have to tell you how the plastic bag ban has affected the district since the ban was implemented in the city this year. You live with the needless inconvenience everyday. Earlier this year, I was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune and I told them that the ban has placed a burden especially on low-income individuals and those who take public transportation. They ended up approving a ban too.
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It’s only a matter of time before stores are charging more than 10 cents for these bags. In fact, I went to a Ralph’s recently, they didn’t mention the cost, just asked, paper or plastic? The plastic bag they gave me was a sturdier quality, meant for reuse it seems. I checked my receipt and I saw a 15 cent charge. I won’t be surprised if they move to ban plastic bags at retail stores- that’s the next frontier it seems.
There is only one winner in this debate: grocery stores will receive tens of millions of dollars for the sale of paper or plastic bags, with no mandated restrictions. These unrestricted funds will be in addition to the revenue currently received for the cost of the packaging which is already included in the pricing.
