When Los Angeles City Council members took up a plan to hike the wages of tourism workers this week, they got some sketchy advice from city lawyers: Hold off on voting for now. Senior Assistant City Atty. Michael J. Dundas dropped a bomb on them on Wednesday — deep into their meeting — saying his office hadn’t done a final legal review of the last-minute changes they wanted. Dundas suggested delaying the vote for two days to follow the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. “We think the agenda for today’s meeting doesn’t give enough heads-up under the Brown Act for first consideration and adoption of an ordinance to up the wages and health benefits for hotel and airport workers,” Dundas wrote. But did the council listen? Nope. They went ahead and voted 12-3 to bump up the minimum wage for these workers to $30 per hour by 2028, despite pushback from business groups, hotel owners, and airport businesses.
The council then did a redo vote on Friday, taking up the rewritten wage measure at a special noon meeting — one that was only called the day before. And guess what? The result was the same, with the measure passing again, 12-3. Some folks in the hotel biz were scratching their heads, wondering why Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who runs the meetings, was so gung-ho about moving forward on Wednesday, even after the lawyers’ warning. Jackie Filla, head honcho of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles, was throwing shade, saying the decision to plow ahead on Wednesday gave Unite Here Local 11, the union repping hotel workers, a leg up. The union had a vote scheduled for Thursday for members to decide on boosting their dues. By signing off on the $30 per hour minimum wage on Wednesday, the council practically handed the union a golden ticket to up those dues, according to Filla. “It seems like it was a win-win for Unite Here to have things go down that way,” she said.
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who wasn’t on board with the wage hikes, didn’t mince words. “It was obvious that Marqueece was trying to be super helpful to Unite Here Local 11, even if it meant breaking the Brown Act,” she said. Harris-Dawson’s spokesperson Rhonda Mitchell didn’t spill the beans on why her boss was all about voting on the wage hike on Wednesday despite the legal advice about the Brown Act. That law says local governments need to open the floor for more public comment if a legislative proposal takes a sharp turn during a meeting. Mitchell, in a text, said Harris-Dawson set up the new wage vote for Friday because of a mix-up by city lawyers. “The item got put back on the agenda due to a slip-up by the City Attorney’s office — and this is the fix,” she said. Mitchell kept mum on the slip-up details. But hey, the wording on the two meeting agendas was different. Wednesday’s agenda said the council should ask city lawyers to “get ready and show” amendments to the wage laws. Friday’s agenda said the council should “show and adopt” the proposed changes.
Maria Hernandez, a mouthpiece for Unite Here Local 11, made it clear in an email that the union doesn’t run the show when it comes to the City Council’s schedule. The vote on the higher dues involved not only L.A. members but also thousands of workers in Orange County and Arizona, Hernandez said. “We don’t get to pick when the LA City Council votes (sadly!) — we were actually hoping for a vote more than a year ago — and the exact timing doesn’t really matter to our members,” she said. Hernandez mentioned that Unite Here Local 11 members gave a big thumbs-up on Thursday to raising their dues, letting the union double its strike fund and fork over cash for “a team of organizers” for the next labor talks. She didn’t spill the beans on the dues bump size.
Dundas’ memo, penned on behalf of City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, came in late during Wednesday’s chat, after council members asked for a bunch of changes to the minimum wage ordinance. At one point, they took a break so their lawyers could tweak the changes. By the time the lawyers came back with the new wording, Dundas’ memo was up on the public bulletin board in the council chamber, where folks quickly snagged screenshots.
