City Finally Adopts Living Wage Law

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

February 23 -- More than two years after its pioneering living wage law was shot down by voters, the City Council Tuesday night followed in the footsteps of other neighboring cities by adopting a wage law that covers municipal contractors.

While lagging several years behind Los Angeles, Pasadena and West Hollywood, Tuesday's 5 to 2 vote establishes the highest living wage in the Los Angeles area for contract workers, including day laborers at construction sites and parking attendants.

The law -- which exempts non-profit contractors and would be adjusted for cost-of-living increases -- guarantees a minimum wage of $11.50 per hour on City-contracted jobs of $50,000 or more.

"This is a significant step forward for area workers," Council Member Kevin McKeown said after the meeting. "We chose $11.50 because it is the level at which a worker's family comes off of food stamps, which are subsidized by taxpayers."

“I’m really pleased that we were able to finally pass a living wage,” said Councilman Richard Bloom. “It’s been a long time.”

Santa Monica, some council members said, lagged behind other cities because it worked several years to incorporate the wage law for contractors into a more comprehensive measure that would have been the nation's first to require businesses with no financial ties to the city to pay workers a living wage.

The unprecedented law, which was approved by the council before it was narrowly defeated by voters in 2002, would have required private businesses along the coast that grossed more than $5 million a year to pay workers at least $10.50 an hour plus benefits.

“Had we not gone forward with that(the earlier law), this measure would have been in place long ago in Santa Monica,” Bloom said.

"This has been a while coming because we tried to do something larger with workers outside the public sector," McKeown said. "This would have been part of that."

While most council members hailed the law as an historic step in helping workers afford to live in an increasingly expensive area, Council members Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz argued that the contract workers who will benefit from the law live outside Santa Monica.

"This is money mostly for laborers on construction sites, who are less skilled, and they don't usually live in this area anyway," Katz said after the meeting.

Katz contends the City should have embarked on a more regional approach to a living wage.

"The argument is why are we trying to do this in one city, instead of regionally?" Katz said. "This is a piecemeal approach by those who lost out on the first living wage proposal. Why don't we do this on a state level instead?"

Both Katz and Holbrook voted for a motion to match Pasadena's $10.28 living wage, arguing that the lower wage would not require taxpayer subsidies.

It is still unclear what type of jobs will be covered by the law and how much it will cost the City. Current estimates range from a half a million to several million dollars.

However, some council members suggest the cost to the City may be much lower because competitive bidding drives down the cost of contract work

Council members directed staff to return next year with how much they spent as a result of the law.

The vote comes eight months after the council voted 4 to 3 to have staff review the financial impact and return with the necessary paperwork as soon as possible for approval.