No on Measure RW in Long Beach
Voters in the city of Long Beach will weigh in March 5 on a union-backed proposal to raise hotel workers' minimum wage to a startling $29.50 an hour within four years — with the absurd proviso that the edicts of this Measure RW would not affect hotels whose workers are already unionized and have a collective bargaining agreement.
Voters should reject this ploy by voting no on Measure RW.
Because of Measure N, already in effect in Long Beach, the minimum wage for qualifying hotel workers is already $17.55 per hour, compared with the statewide minimum wage of $16 an hour as of Jan. 1, which is already the nation's second-highest minimum — Washington state is at $16.28. The city of Los Angeles already has a separate minimum wage of $16.78 an hour, with West Hollywood having a minimum of $19.08.
You can make all kinds of arguments against the efficacy of minimum wages in the first place — and we do — but voters are faced with a very specific choice here about this shameless proposal to make the wage law effect one business sector and only one sector — people who work in hotels, including the hotel at the city-owned Queen Mary. It's part of a new push by unions to carve out agreements for narrow pools of workers, often in healthcare or hospitality. If the way-high wages are good or necessary for them, why not for everyone? Because this is not for everyone. In fact, it's against everyone: the residents and consumers of Long Beach, who would see prices rise all over the place because of such special-interest ballot-box legislation,
That's why RW's opponents, including BizFed, the Los Angeles County Business Federation, note that its “unsustainable wage mandates will devastate our local economy — putting the hospitality sector's $1.8 billion economic impact and 18,000 jobs at risk.”
BizFed also notes that local rent increases for all are almost inevitable after large increases in the minimum wage, and that “Measure RW takes away our guaranteed right to vote on future amendments. Instead, it gives politicians the power to make future changes to the measure without voter approval. This strips away our long-held right to vote on future changes.”
Long Beach voters should say no to Measure RW.