 Two industry groups sued Los Angeles on Tuesday over its planned minimum wage at larger hotels, saying it would cause "irreparable harm" and run afoul of federal labor law. The American Hotel and Lodging Assn. and the Asian American Hotel Owners Assn. said the city's law, which imposes a $15.37 minimum wage, improperly interferes with labor relations, tipping the scales in favor of unions. The law has national implications for the hospital industry, which wants to keep other cities from adopting similar rules. "If L.A. does this, other large cities will see it as something sensible for them to do," attorney Michael Starr said. The wage law allows unionized hotels to be exempted from paying the minimum wage if workers agree in their contract to relinquish that opportunity. That provision, Starr said, will pressure hotel managers to give in to demands from labor leaders on the process used to let workers join a union.  The groups want to block enforcement of the law, approved by the City Council in September. The measure is set to go into effect in July for hotels with at least 300 rooms and expand a year later to hotels with at least 150 rooms. Backers of the measure said it would prevent hotel workers from having to take second jobs that keep them from seeing their families. They also argue that the hotels in Los Angeles have benefited from city efforts to boost the tourism industry. ... |
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Oct 07, 2014
I've tried to be particularly vigilant in ringing this lack-of-real-wage-growth alarm bell in recent months, as the tightening job market has led to threatening chatter about the need for the Federal Reserve to ratchet up rates ...
Nov 22, 2014
For nearly 20 years, Darrell Eberhardt worked in an Ohio factory putting together wheelchairs, earning $18.50 an hour, enough to gain a toehold in the middle class and feel respected at work. He is still working with his hands, ...
Aug 24, 2014
It's no coincidence that there's been an outpouring of research on wage trends of late, just in time for the annual meeting of the world's central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyo. But one noted monetary expert who should but ...
Nov 17, 2014
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A group of Walmart employees pushing for higher wages said on Friday they were planning protests at 1,600 Walmart stores nationwide on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year in the ...
