lawsuit

Todd beat me to the punch. The LAX Living Wage has already been blocked.

A Superior Court judge Wednesday temporarily blocked a new law extending the city's "living wage" to workers at LAX-area hotels from taking effect until May at the earliest.

The ruling, by Judge Dzintra Janavs, came in response to a challenge to the law filed Wednesday by seven of the dozen hotels that would be required to pay all workers a living wage — $10.64 per hour including health benefits — under the new law.

Judge Janavs did not rule on the substance of the lawsuit, but simply blocked the bill until the hearing on May 11th. Thousands of workers will be denied a long overdue raise because of the hotels' legal action. The lawsuit claims that the City Council denied the constitutional right of those who signed the petition to place the industry sponsored initiative on the ballot.

It is disappointing to see these stall tactics, but we feel confident that if we eventually do end up having to go back to the ballot that we will win overwhelmingly. Our poll made it clear to the hotels that we would win that fight, but the still have chosen to delay implementation with a court battle. Now we have a three month freeze on the wage increase thanks to the court and the hotels. It is just a shame to see how determined these big companies are to pay their workers a poverty wage.