A judge Friday delivered a stinging rebuke to Los Angeles' labor and political leadership, barring the city from enforcing a ballyhooed new ordinance that would have extended the city's "living wage" protections to workers at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport. The eight-page order by Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe went far beyond merely blocking a law that had been considered a point of pride for the city's powerful labor interests. As a practical matter, Yaffe dealt a political defeat to the City Council, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the union that championed the law. During a yearlong political and legal battle, the council and mayor approved two different laws extending the living wage to hotel workers.
See "'Living wage' for LAX hotel staffs blocked", Joe Matthews and Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2007