Living Wage Issue Put in Voters' Laps
When Santa Monica, CA residents enter the booths this November 5, they will not only be casting their ballots for political candidates, they will be voting on whether to adopt the first local ?living wage? bill in the country to apply to private businesses who have benefited from public development projects without receiving individual subsidies. The ordinance is aimed at improving conditions for low-paid workers in Santa Monica?s resort industry campaign for a Santa Monica ?living wage? subject of a protracted battle pitting the City Council, community activists, unions, living wage and workers? rights advocates, and clergy members against the powerful hotel industry the beachfront city cultivated ordinance (see WIT?s for May 25, 2001, Oct. 9, and June 29, 2002), the culminated in a City Council vote May 2001 (see WIT for May 29, 2001), the ordinance (see WIT?s for May 25, 2001, Oct. 9, and June 29, 2002).
See "Living Wage Issue Put in Voters' Laps", MARTHA GROVES, Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2002