West Hollywood may join more than a dozen cities and counties across the United States that have raised local minimum wages. The City Council voted last night to instruct city staffers to analyze wages paid in West Hollywood to restaurant support staff, food service workers, laborers, housekeepers, store clerks and other low-wage employees.
The Council’s action follows a declaration by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Labor Day that he will push for an increase in that city’s minimum wage, which currently is set at the state’s standard of $9 an hour. Garcetti proposes increasing the minimum wage to $13.25 an hour by 2017, with a boost to $10.25 next year and $11,75 in 2016. From 2018 on changes in the minimum wage would be tied to an inflation index.
Efforts to boost the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour have been stymied by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. That has sparked action by cities such as Seattle, which raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour this year, and San Diego, whose City Council agreed to raise the minimum to $11.50 by 2017. San Jose has a $10.25 minimum wage and voters in Oakland and San Francisco in November will consider ballot measures to boost their minimum wages to $12.25 and $15 respectively. San Francisco’s $10.74 minimum wage is currently the highest in the country.
West Hollywood’s current minimum wage of $12.02 an hour applies only to businesses with which the city has a contract. If the employer doesn’t provide health insurance benefits worth at least $1.13 an hour, that minimum goes to $13.33 an hour. The measure approved last night would require the city to study the possibility of implementing a citywide minimum wage, affecting businesses without city contracts.
Last year, Councilmember John Heilman proposed applying that minimum wage standard to hotels that are part of the city’s tourism improvement district. But City Attorney Mike Jenkins told the Council it could not legally require a minimum wage as a condition for participating in the district.
The tourism and entertainment industries, which are supported by low-wage jobs such as bartending, waiting tables, and cleaning hotel rooms, are major contributors to the local economy. For example, hotel room taxes are expected to generate $20 million this fiscal year, accounting for 22 percent of the revenue for the city’s general fund.
The proposal to consider an increase in West Hollywood’s minimum wage and an extension of it to businesses citywide was made by Councilmembers John Heilman and Abbe Land.
Land, noting that a minimum wage increase is being considered in Los Angeles, said: “By doing this study we can get a better gauge about how we can remain competitive … We want to make sure that the wages that we pay here are competitive and give the best opportunity for our citizens to say here and work here.” Heilman said the city needs to know the impact of a possible minimum wage increase on local businesses.
The proposal was supported by all four Council members (Councilmember John Duran was absent from last night’s meeting). However it drew criticism from two local residents.
Cole Holbrook, who described himself as a gay conservative Republican, said it was an obvious political move by Council members facing re-election. “Before we ask for an increase in the minimum wage, I’d like to ask how much each of you paid your campaign workers in the last election,” Holbrook said. “Is this about minimum wage or about politics?”
Larry Block, owner of the Block Party clothing store in West Hollywood’s Boystown, said a minimum wage increase would be a “Mom and Pop store killer.”
Emilija Torbešic Abortion is not a political issue, it’s a moral issue. Where and when does the rights of the baby come into play? Women don’t get pregnant from a good night kiss, like everything else there are foreseeable consequences. Both the father and mother are responsible not society. But the big current question is about the safety of abortion clinics. Should they be so ill equipped that when complications arise they are unable to deal with the situation. Not just abortion clinics are risky but all walk in surgery centers. Joan Rivers died because there were complications and she… Read more »
@Mike Dunn I refer the honorable Gentleman to my previous answers on the topic! 🙂 Your statement “statistics show that more women have died as a result of abortions than pre Roe v Wade” is completely FALSE and what statistics? YOU have NEVER provided a source in ANY argument you have made! Fran Moreland Johns’ book, Perilous Times: An inside look at abortion before — and after — Roe v. Wade completely DEBUNKS your argument. There is nothing immoral about terminating an unwanted pregnancy or removing a clump of cells that have not yet developed into a viable human being… Read more »
@ mike dunn: Before the Supreme Court holding in Roe v. Wade 1973, thousands of women in the U.S. were seriously injured or died each year from unsafe, illegal abortions. Countless others were forced to bear children they did not want. The legalization of abortion meant that, for the first time, women could decide whether and when they wanted to bear children. It was, and is, central to the emancipation of women. You might want to look athttp://corinawrites.com/2012/02/09/i-need-affordable-birth-control-for-legitimate-medical-reasons/ to learn more on the topic! Oh so you don’t want to pay for birth control, do you now want to pay… Read more »
The current $9.00 hourly minimum wage with a 40 hour work week constituting income of $360.00 before taxes is tantamount to slave labor and inhumane in an enlightened society.
More so it is counter intuitive as for growing the economy and actually works against the market. We need a return to “wage-led” growth as regular increases in wages are the source of a smoothly growing aggregate demand in the economy vs. the past decades of trickle down spending of the top 1 percent and unsustainable bubbles in the stock market or housing.
Thanks for the reply Mike Dunn! 😉 First of all there is a major difference between a rel=”nofollow”>zygote, an embryo and, a fetus so there is NOT a double standard here. Women many times are denied access to birth control mainly by REPUBLICANS and, denying access to Abortion on Demand would only serve to oppress them further. Part of the GOP’s War on Women Now DON’T expect me to defend the DNC or the Clintons as progressives! They have served as bellicose cheer leaders for American imperialism, too whippy to take a serious stand against the GOP’s war on Women,… Read more »
Call a unborn child what ever turns you on but it’s a living human that should have rights too. While some are so disturbed that women’s rights are being threatened the rights of the baby seem to be unimportant. What the real question is, should women be held responsible for their actions? I really don’t care what Gore Vidal or Daniel Elsberg have to say about gays in the military during the Viet Nam War. Neither served as I recall but I was there and encountered gays in every unit I served in, most serving openly. From the officer having… Read more »
Well to start off. I am opposed to abortion on demand. Using it as a means of birth control is both immoral and outrageous. It’s not like a good night kiss will get a woman pregnant. If a woman chooses to not use protection then does not want to be inconvenienced is just plan wrong. They are killing a human being. Going to a abortion clinic make the murder OK but in the case of Scott Peterson, he was convicted of two counts of murder for killing both his wife and their unborn baby. Can you see the double standard?… Read more »
A little something on the sources Mike Dunn: The DNC will take money from any capitalist that comes their way; basically they are the other faction of the business party. The opposition to the Koch brothers is highly justified, through their corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (AEC), global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called “model bills” reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations many at the expense of our Democracy. The effectiveness of ALEC in having undermined the entire… Read more »
Thanks for caring SaveWeHo! Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., even called for tripling the national minimum wage, citing reports (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage1-2012-03.pdf) that had the national minimum wage kept pace with the United States’ economic productivity, the country would have a $22 minimum wage for all workers!
I’ve done far better than this many times and, I NEED my section 8 housing or I’m camping out in WeHo. I’m NOT on the West Hollywood City Council YET and, have NO relatives there. I would be surprised if there is anyone on the City Council that I haven’t managed to alienate! 😉
Thanks for caring SaveWeHo! Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., even called for tripling the national minimum wage, citing reports (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage1-2012-03.pdf) that had the national minimum wage kept pace with the United States’ economic productivity, the country would have a $22 minimum wage for all workers!
I’ve done far better than this many times and, I NEED my section 8 housing or I’m camping out in WeHo. I’m NOT on the West Hollywood City Council YET and, have NO relatives there.
Luca d,with all due respect there is a misinformation campaign that has hit several media outlets against Professor Paul Krugman along the same lines of Climate Science denial and from the same discredited sources. Paul Krugman was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics for 2008 http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/paul-krugman-wins-economics-nobel/?em ( New Trade Theory and the New Economic Geography) and was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for his New York Times articles considered “prophetic columns on economic peril during a year of financial calamity.” For Bush’s entire 8 years, job growth was just 1.1 million. Yet under Obama, the… Read more »
Interesting note is even at the cities high $13.13 an hour for those with a city contract…that is only $27,726 a year. West Hollywood deems that as not just “Low-Income”…but “VERY Low-Income.” For 1-person: Very Low Income = up to $28,847 Low-Income = $28,848 to $46,154 Moderate-Income = $46,155 to $57,693 So basically..if you work 40 hours a week in Weho for the city…you qualify for low-income housing offered by the city. And btw…there’s like a 5 year wait to even sign up before the 10 year wait. I suspect many of our council members’ families partake of these benefits… Read more »
Flores St., you made some very good points. The major problem has to do with lack of any oversight or regulation of real estate speculation in RESIDENTIAL properties. The real estate barons should feel free to risk their $billions in whatever COMMERCIAL venture they like so long they can’t get bailed out with public funds. Mind you these are the same people that want the “Government” to mind their own business in the affairs of the less powerful who they want “market discipline” imposed upon but, have NO problems accepting Public funds in light of their failures. The vast majority… Read more »
Rudolf Martin, Thank you for the nice comments! I think I should have included Campaign Finance Reform and, overturning Citizens United to the list.
I find it questionable how the DNC complains about the Kock brothers and their contributions yet believe those moneys from Warren Buffiet Bill Gates are OK. Buffiet is currently reaping huge profits due to the Keystone XL Pipeline hold-up. Buffiet is the sole owner of BNSF Railroad which is transporting the oil currently.