Hoping to provide harried business owners a way to influence decision making, several Los Angeles business groups have formed a coalition to copy and counteract what they called the considerable organizational clout of the county's labor union federation. The Los Angeles County Business Federation, which will be formally unveiled Tuesday, so far includes 44 organizations that represent more than 70,000 businesses employing more than 1.2 million people. The new organization's leaders say it is important to emulate the fast footwork of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor in bringing together large groups of people to address issues.
See "L.A. businesses to form new federation", Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2008