Posted on 12/18/2012 8:39:25 PM PST by jeannineinsd
One week before a new minimum wage law for Long Beach hotels goes into effect, two hotels have told employees to expect layoffs of as many as 75 people, according to union representatives.
At a confrontation with union activists Friday, a manager at one of the hotels, the Best Western Golden, denied that a local ballot measure triggered the cuts. He said bad economic conditions were to blame.
In November, Long Beach voters approved a measure requiring hotels with 100 or more rooms to pay their employees $13 an hour.
In a letter to employees posted at the hotel Monday, the Best Western said it planned to downsize and reopen under new management. Although the letter said some employees would eventually be retained, it said all employees would be without a job as of Saturday and would be eligible for $1,000 severance packages.
All employees will be considered terminated after their last shift of duty on or before December 15, 2012, reads the letter from General Manager Matthew Daniel.
Hotel workers and protesters confronted Daniel at a restaurant Friday morning. He blamed the economy, not the ballot measure, and declined to discuss the matter further.
When he walked away, the protesters followed him through the hotel chanting, "Si se puede."
Earlier this month, the 140-room Hotel Current told employees it would scale back to 99 rooms to avoid the wage increase. Hotel managers could not be immediately be reached for comment.
Before election day, Long Beach business leaders warned of cutbacks if the measure passed, but the living wage provision for all hotel workers won the approval of 64% of voters anyway.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
California minimum wage is $8.00 an hour. Apparently the voters of the city of Long Beach decided that hotel workers deserve to make $13.00 an hour. The voters didn't arrange to pay the increased wages themselves, but determined that the hotel owners needed to pay the increased wages.
To me, it seemed very predictable that people would lose their jobs due to this ballot initiative, but apparently some union leaders and elected officials were surprised that some hotels laid off employees.
It apparently did not occur to the union leaders that hotel owners do not have to do business in Long Beach, they can close down and cease to do business.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, IDIOTS!.........
Ano nuevo pero no prospero.
Cause and effect is such an easy thing to understand
Those souls that retain their jobs will be facing burn out within a few months. When the hotels are forced to close, the socialists will preach about how it was another failure of capitalism.
Puedo.......
They forgot to pass Points One and Two of Directive 10-289:
In the name of the general welfare, to protect the peoples security, to achieve full equality and total stability, it is decreed for the duration of the national emergency that:
Point One. All workers, wage earners and employees of any kind whatsoever shall henceforth be attached to their jobs and shall not leave nor be dismissed nor change employment, under penalty of a term in jail. The penalty shall be determined by the Unification Board, such Board to be appointed by the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources. All persons reaching the age of twenty-one shall report to the Unification Board, which shall assign them to where, in its opinion, their services will best serve the interests of the nation.
Point Two. All industrial, commercial, manufacturing and business establishments of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth remain in operation, and the owners of such establishments shall not quit nor leave nor retire, nor close, sell or transfer their business, under penalty of the nationalization of their establishment and of any and all of their property...
It’s not just the five extra dollars in each paycheck, it’s also the extra payroll taxes that have to be pulled out of the cash register. We had to reduce paychecks in order to afford the taxes when business slowed down.
How cute.
a 65% pay raise AND, most likely, having to pay health care AND being declared “wealthy” as a “S” Corp, subject to Obama’s tax on the rich.
I see no reason why one should even keep a few rooms open let alone going to 99 from 140. You can make more money on the dole - and pay no taxes to boot
Maybe the union should step in and make up the difference.
LOL! I kill me sometimes.
Part of the law allowed the hotels above 99 rooms to skip the increase, if they unionized. They didn’t figure that cutting down to 99 rooms would be cheaper than unions, and that hotel managers are rational actors.
Most of the hotels affected are located in downtown LB, which is strictly for business as there are no tourist attractions there. Very likely most will downsize and turn the excess rooms into long term rentals or apartments.
The Queen Mary Hotel will likely close as it has been a perennial money loser. Look for the Queen Mary to be headed to the scrap heap.
I’m not sure who can afford to go there on business any more. On our last trip there - and not just the last one we made, the last one we will ever make - the tax and extra charges on the car rental and hotel room were more than the base charges for the car and room. Just ridiculous.
Obviously not for some idiots.
What if they turn it into a flop-house? It isn’t a hotel, you rent it by the week as housing.
In short, mob rule by any other name.
Mostly because legislatures don't want to vote and get on record on controversial issues.
Leni
and what’s so special about 100 room hotels?..why not 90, or 80, or 70 rooms...
The hotels will likely turn into flop houses.
Long Beach spent years trying to revitalize the downtown area, this law will kill the hotel business there.
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