For Black Angelenos, recording stokes anger, fears of losing hard-fought gains
The Los Angeles City Council approved a new ordinance Wednesday that would impose a $1 an hour minimum wage for workers in the nonprofit sector.
The ordinance, however, does not make it mandatory for employers to pay the new $15 an hour minimum wage, which is proposed as a minimum for private sector workers.
“We want to make sure people realize this is a wage,” Livable Los Angeles said in an effort to drum up support from advocates of the new measures.
The resolution, which also says that the $15 an hour minimum wage is a “fair wage,” is a first step toward creating a citywide minimum wage of $15 an hour.
The city council had introduced the measure in 2016 in an effort to increase wages in the private sector. The measure did not receive overwhelming support and did not pass.
However, city council member Gil Cedillo, who made headlines in 2017 for his vocal opposition to the $15 an hour minimum wage, introduced the measure that would now go into effect for nonprofit employees and for those working in the food services industry.
The new ordinance would also expand the city’s minimum wage to cover employees in the commercial and industrial industry, such as fast food outlets, restaurants and garment workers.
“The issue of wages is becoming an increasingly relevant issue as cities across the country grapple with the costs of living,” Cedillo said. “We need to have an equitable wage system going forward, and the nonprofit sector has been working hard to ensure that they can do that and still continue to have a viable city.”
The ordinance would require employers with more than 50 employees to pay an additional $1 an hour to employees, with exemptions for small businesses.
Currently, Los Angeles workers aren’t required to pay any minimum wage. About 25 percent of nonprofit workers are paid less than $10 an hour, according to the Los Angeles Labor Federation.
“This is a wage,” Cedillo said. “It’s a minimum wage, and we