West Hollywood’s City Council approved a divisive ordinance regarding hotel workers Monday night in a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Lauren Meister casting the sole “no” vote.
Supporters of the measure argued it would put worker pay in line with Santa Monica hotels and help workers who had been laid off during the pandemic, while detractors believed it could limit hotel revenue and therefore affect funds for city services. Meister, who agreed with most of the provisions of the ordinance, felt an economic impact study was needed before it could earn her vote.
The ordinance’s passing marks the end of a particularly ugly chapter in West Hollywood city history, in which the interests of the business community were pitted publicly against those of the labor unions and their members.
Prior to the vote, hundreds of WeHo hotel workers and allies organized by UNITE HERE Local 11 marched from Kings Road Park to West Hollywood City Hall in favor of the ordinance. Hotel housekeepers also highlighted another provision in the proposed ordinance by performing a special demonstration at the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd and Sweetzer.
[…] the disruption are two of UNITE HERE’s most effective weapons. The union has in the past put on elaborate, theatrical performance pieces to bring exposure to their cause, and their tactics have at times been criticized as […]
West Hollywood is well known for its misguided compassion; compassion without logic.
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beacaue more government is always the answer. (eye roll)
We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with this one!
Yay! Just what we need more government regulation!!
100% contrived. Horvath even paused to let Danielle Wilson with Unite Here orchestrate the rest of public comment. All paid union organizers and people from Santa Monica. Unite Here is just as bad as every other lobbyist tring to grow their coffers. They left their members high-and dry during the pandemic, refusing to suspend dues and even raised them. None of the union employees get the “benefits” of this ordinance. A win for the electeds and the union, not for the workers.
What makes a 4-1 decision divisive?
Seemed like a slam dunk.
It’s about damned time WeHo look out for the hotel workers and not just the hotel owners and their billboard buddies.
Doesn’t seem at all divisive to treat people with dignity.
The idea of dignity has many faces. Do these social justice aficionados and Union promotors really care about the dignity of these hotel staffers? First step, let’s refer to these folks as “hotel staffers” instead of the somewhat derogative “workers”. With many struggling to speak, some employing interpreters a question could be asked “why are these folks not conversant in English, the common language of the country in which they work. Even though many of them were “organized” by their “organizers” it seemed a poor job at that. Are classes or is tutoring available? With 5,10, 5 years on the… Read more »
Do you somehow imagine that the Union is some sort of ruling class, maybe an aristocracy, forcing the poor benighted staffers into positions they don’t desire, such as earning a decent wage? Do they care?
Did you know that the members of the union are ACTUALLY HOTEL STAFFERS THEMSELVES?
You lost me immediately after that statement.
That unfortunately your perception or judgement. I was referring to the concept of altruism which is sorely lacking in this instance and in the immediate community. It was part of my consciousness since childhood and am horrified by how much meanness, aggression and insidious behavior is apparent in the community ofWest Hollywood wanting to belong. Funny you should mention knights and the aristocracy as folks rarely make a move here without being anointed in public and having a monument to themselves. It’s more complex than a series of comments but hopefully you may get the point.
Next targets: Gas station attendants and residential gardeners.
Carl, the candor is appreciated but gas station attendants have become extinct and residential gardeners….you mean residential leaf blowers who don’t understand and/or follow the gas powered leaf blower ordinance? We seem to be traveling in circles.
Well, gosh, there must be many others who need union representation, who are still simple wage slaves laboring under horrible conditions like hotel workers. Who are they? “Workers of the world – unite!”.
Passing this ordinance without an economic impact study is ludicrous. The council should be recalled.
What would be the possible economic impact on the City by treating employees of hotels decently? I can never imagine why the city didn’t create an impact study, as it’s unlikely in the extreme that it would create an impact
Yup!
D’Amico should resign he said nothing and accomplished nothing. He has all bad ideas and nothing constructive to add to the dialog.
So disgusted. VOTE. THEM. OUT.
Good luck with that. Just nine months ago, they were VOTED. IN. By the majority.
Do I smell a possible recall effort?
Yeah, good luck with that one, also.There are 29,523 registered voters in the City of West Hollywood. State law will require 20% of those signatures, which would be about 5900 people. For those saying “vote them out!” … or … “recall them,” if you are truly passionate about doing that, maybe you should start your own signature drive, instead of complaining in the comments section of this site. It is going to take a lot of work, on your behalf. The people spoke, less than 9 months ago. I’m happy that Erickson and Shyne voted for this. It is a social… Read more »
I am sorry but this is public comments to an article. You don’t like my comment keep scrolling.
You can do the same. You don’t have to respond to my comments. I’m just pointing out the obvious – your public comments are going to do a thing, in this situation.
Shyne, Erickson and Horvath would like folks to believe they more or less invented the latest version of Social Justice. They did not. It seems a convenient umbrella to adopt including the latest Social Justice Task Force so people could endlessly discuss perceived slights, hostilities, infractions or whatever could follow simple rules of responsibility they should have learned as children. How about the City sponsoring a free seminar in Ethics open to all residents who never revived this in their curriculum. The previously established Ethics Task Force seems to be on a permanent vacation
YES!
That was…never received in their curriculum not never revived…….but you probably guessed that. Although some out there my well revive whatever education they once had, we are badly drifting.
Yes!!
So was Trump in 2016. See what happened to him 4 years later?! A majority voted these knuckleheads in that were not well informed and picked new versus old and that’s the only reason they got in. They have given us nothing. Vote. Them. Out.
Trump did not win by anything close to the margin that these two candidates won by. He actually had 3 million less votes. He won by a minority. My point is, you can chant your “vote them out” all you want. Meanwhile they are your Council Members for the next 3+ years. And if you want to do something about it, start a recall petition, instead of just complaining about them on the internet. D’Amico voted along “yes” on this. So all of this talk about this being the “unisex toilet three” (or whatever ridiculous nickname people have given them),… Read more »
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scrolling on.
Meister is the only serious person on the council.
This is true. Her one and only agenda is the care & nourishing of West Hollywood. Thoughtful examination of issues and seeking answers to problems not buying into staff prattle or those given to self aggrandizement. A civics and sociology study in full view. Unfortunately some of the players didn’t receive these basic principles and tools which are crucial to establishing and maintaining municipal health. Our new City Manager looked slightly shell shocked.
Absolutely. The care and nourishing of West Hollywood.
TOT.
Anything messing with the hotel tax is bad.
Anything creating decent working conditions for workers don’t live in West Hollywood is extremely bad.
It would be nice if both Meister and D’Amico explained the reasoning behind their votes. Meister said that she favored a credit system over square footage, but did not provide a detailed explanation of why she wouldn’t vote for it. She also didn’t provide any kind of explanation as to why she didn’t approve the budget, back in June. People assume that it had to do with this ordinance on the calendar, but those are just assumptions.
The only one that truly cares about our city and not for higher office. VOTE. THEM. OUT.
I listened to the council meeting commenters and noticed a lot of people comparing West Hollywood to Santa Monica.There is no comparison as the cities are different in land size and hotel makeup. I noticed many Spanish speakers were not heard as I figured many of them were in one single room passing a smartphone around and not calling in individually. The city clerk mentioned that many commenters were calling from the same number. This made the whole thing look contrived for the side asking for the ordinance to be passed. I have no doubt this ordinance will be challenged… Read more »
And hopefully it will be defeated.
Has it been challenged in court in those other cities? Was anyone successful? If they weren’t, then good luck with that.
That is the advantage of adopting something that other cities have already pioneered as a lot of the legal issues have already been resolved without us having to pay the litigation costs.
Steve, thank you. Indeed, it is.
Fear and intimidation lose again. Congrats to the council for being on the right side of history!
LOL. The union organizers looked very disorganized. They couldn’t organize a teleconference call. There are many helpful things they could have and could do for the benefit of their union staffers rather than making such a big deal about square footage of hotel rooms needing to be cleaned but that would necessitate a wee bit of critical thinking. No , they only apparently skilled in a few things, saying NO, protesting, saying NO, picketing and saying NO. Additionally transporting the 50+ Santa Monica employees to a destination for a teleconference. Everyone gets compensated. Even before the pandemic, bus loads of… Read more »