The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will quickly take into account a proposal requiring lodge and theme park employees in unincorporated areas to be paid not less than $25 an hour, rising to $30 an hour by 2028, when the Summer season Olympics might be held in Los Angeles.
Chair Janice Hahn, who proposed the movement at Tuesday’s board assembly, mentioned too many employers are paying their employees low wages, which exacerbates poverty, homelessness and housing insecurity.
On the identical time, hoteliers profit from county investments in seashores and parks, attracting vacationers to the area, and theme parks profit from particular zoning privileges, giving the county a vested curiosity in how their employees are paid, Hahn mentioned.
The measure would apply to staff of Common Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain, and other people working at lodges with greater than 60 rooms.
If handed, the county ordinance would additionally require all service costs to be paid to employees.
“A $25 minimal wage, up from the present minimal wage of $16.90, wouldn’t make these employees wealthy, however it might make their lives slightly simpler and will imply that they don’t must work a number of jobs simply to remain of their houses,” Hahn mentioned.
The supervisors will take into account the movement at their Sept. 12 assembly.
If Hahn’s movement passes, county employees will draft the Tourism Employee Retention Minimal Wage Ordinance in 45 days. The supervisors would then vote on the ordinance. It was unclear how quickly the ordinance would go into impact if handed.
Hahn mentioned the movement, co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, is much like proposals being thought of in Los Angeles and Lengthy Seaside — some extent that business leaders rapidly fired again on.
Heather Rozman, president and chief government of the Resort Assn. of Los Angeles, mentioned Hahn’s “copy and paste” lawmaking was unhealthy public coverage.
The board ought to full an financial affect evaluation, like cities with related proposals, earlier than transferring ahead, Rozman mentioned.
“Perhaps the supervisors pays their county employees a minimal wage of $25 an hour first,” Rozman mentioned in a press release. “It’s disappointing that one particular curiosity is proposing ordinances via the Los Angeles area that may have a devastating affect on small enterprise and native authorities tax income. As a substitute of specializing in a small proportion of employees, leaders on this area ought to develop a holistic answer to our affordability disaster that can profit all.”
Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, government director of the California Points of interest and Parks Assn., mentioned her group had solely simply seen the proposal.
“We welcome the supervisor’s invitation to interact all stakeholders,” Lockhart mentioned in a press release.
Not less than a few of the “enormous enhance in wages” may very well be handed on to shoppers, though particularly at theme parks, shoppers are already offended about current value jumps, mentioned Martin Lewison, a theme park professional and affiliate professor of enterprise administration at Farmingdale State Faculty in New York.
That’s why extra theme park corporations need to center America to construct theme parks for shoppers who don’t have cash to drive or fly to the coasts for a Disney or Common attraction, he mentioned.
“Each of these industries have been proof against wage will increase for a very long time,” Lewison mentioned. “In some methods, that is justice for employees who you can argue have been underpaid, traditionally, and so I definitely see the way it may be standard politically to make such a proposal.”
Common worker Danny Bernardo informed the supervisors Tuesday it’s a frequent false impression that theme park employees sometimes are younger individuals in search of seasonal work, when many have labored at parks for many years. But many are paid barely greater than minimal wage, regardless of their years of service, Bernardo mentioned.
Many have second and third jobs, typically full-time employment elsewhere, and are on public advantages, face evictions and even skip meals, he mentioned.
“There aren’t simply tales — these are the experiences of myself, my brothers and sisters and kin,” mentioned Bernardo, an Amusement Space Staff Union B-192 member. “To fulfill the price of residing, a lot of our employees are solely working and never residing.”
Occasions employees author Hugo Martín contributed to this report.
