Workers Continue to Demand 'Living Wages'

As more oversized hotels are proposed for the city, hospitality workers continue to demand that officials force developers to pay higher wages.

Before Tuesday night's City Council meeting, about two dozen members of Unite Here Local 11 staged a small protest in front of City Hall to call for wages high enough for them to afford to live in Santa Monica.

"We're being pushed out, and we're being priced out," said Oscar de la Torre, a member of the Santa Monica Malibu-Unified School District Board of Education who has recently helped lead rallies for so-called living wages in Santa Monica.

It was good timing. The night's agenda was chock-full of talk about the new hotels that want to build in Santa Monica and how, in the future, city leaders might figure out what to require of those developers that seek to build beyond the size limits permitted in local zoning codes.

. Still, Unite Here Local 11 and a couple City Council members have said the wage at 710 Wilshire Blvd. of $12.54 and $11.29 with health benefits—more than $3 above California's minimum wage—isn't high enough.

That agreement received final approval Tuesday night in a 4-2 vote, but was nearly derailed over a debate of whether the medical insurance 710 Wilshire would provide to employees was "reasonable."

There are applications for at least two new hotels—a Marriott and a Hilton at the northeast and northwest corners of 5th Street and Colorado Avenue—and an that are making their through City Hall.

The Marriott and Hilton will need development agreements.

(Editor’s note: The City Council got its first look at drafts of the contracts Tuesday night. Stay tuned to Patch for full coverage of council members' reactions.)

Council members said that in writing future development agreements, they want to let residents set the agenda of what might be required of the developers. In the past, community benefits have included building to LEED standards, hiring local workers and installing artwork by local artists.

"We need to find out a way to go into the community and find out what people really want," said Councilwoman Gleam Davis. Currently, developers "set the table; we’re talking about their agenda. We need to set the table."

Criticizing the council members for questioning health benefits at 710 Wilshire during the final vote Tuesday,  Rachel Torres, a research analyst with Unite Here, said in this go-around with the , "we should set the expectation for what we want to see early on."

The Marriott and Hilton developers said that evening that they are willing to consider implementing a living wage.

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