COUNCIL FACES LIVING-WAGE DEADLINE MAYOR STEPS INTO TALKS BETWEEN UNIONS, LAX-AREA HOTELS.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council is set to decide today whether to repeal a living-wage ordinance it imposed on a group of Century Corridor hotels or let voters decide the issue in a May special election.

As the council neared its deadline, negotiations were continuing to try to head off what some estimate will be a $15 million referendum on the issue if the council refuses to overturn its decision.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa became involved in the talks over the weekend and those familiar with the situation said he was able to overcome most of the business community's objections with assurances the ordinance would not be applied to any other private businesses.

As part of the negotiations, sources said a proposal was made to create an economic overlay zone for the airport-area hotels. Such an act would bring in the possibility of tax offsets for the hotels in return for the higher pay for workers and a city commitment to invest in the area to bring in more business for the hotels.

Villaraigosa was said to have won support from several of the hotels that would be directly affected but had not yet won agreement from all 12.

At stake is whether the city will require the hotels -- which it says benefit from the city's investments at Los Angeles International Airport -- to pay their workers a living wage of $9.39 an hour with medical benefits or $10.64 an hour without.

The council voted to impose the ordinance on the hotels but the business community quickly gathered enough signatures to qualify the measure for a special referendum.

The main stumbling block in current talks has been whether the living wage should apply to workers who receive tips. The hotels say those workers should be exempt because they already make more than the living wage with tips.

Some insiders have said the hotels could avoid the controversy by negotiating union contracts for their workers. Unions have tried for several years to organize at the hotels.

The issue reached a crescendo last year, however, when Councilwoman Janice Hahn said she was manhandled during a demonstration on behalf of the workers and subsequently pushed to extend the city's living-wage ordinance to the hotels.

Supporters of the living wage say the hotels are among the busiest in the region yet pay 20 percent less than downtown hotels. Hoteliers say they have to discount their rooms and do not earn as much as the other hotels.

Both sides have voiced confidence they will get voter support if the issue goes to a special referendum.

The city estimates it will cost $3 million to stage the election, and both sides said they expect to raise and spend upwards of $5 million to make their case to voters.

On Monday, a group made up of unions known as Working Californians released a poll saying 74 percent of voters it surveyed support the living wage.

Arnie Berghoff, a spokesman for the hotel industry, said the hotels had their own polls showing voters would oppose the living wage.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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