Los Angeles Council members were told that voting could violate public meeting laws. They still vote

When Los Angeles City Council members proposed a plan this week to hike the wages of travel workers, they received some wording suggestions from city lawyers: There has been no vote on it yet.

Senior Assistant City Atti. Michael J. Dundas, who was in-depth at his meeting on Wednesday, had not yet conducted a final legal review of the last-minute changes they requested earlier in the day.

Dundas suggested the council delay the vote for two days in order to comply with the state's public meeting law Ralph M. Brown Act.

“We recommend that the agenda released by today's meeting is not sufficient to be notified under the Brown Act to first consider and adopt an ordinance to increase wages and health benefits for hotel and airport workers,” Dundas wrote.

Regardless, the Council has moved forward with a 12-3 vote, and by 2028, the minimum wage for these workers has increased to $30 an hour, despite opposition from business groups, hotel owners and airport operations.

Then, on Friday, the Council voted, taking a rewrite of the wage measure at a special noon meeting – which was called only the day before. The result is the same, and the measure passes again 12-3.

Some in the hospitality industry questioned why Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the president of the conference's council, also insisted on moving forward on Wednesday, even after lawyers warned.

Jackie Filla, President and CEO of the Hotel Association. Los Angeles said Wednesday's decision made politically promoted here on 11 locals, representing hotel staff. The union has arranged Thursday's election so its members can vote on whether to increase dues.

By approving a minimum wage of $30 per hour on Wednesday, the council provided unions with a strong selling point for the proposed increase in dues, Fira said.

“It seems to be a joint financial interest in this opportunity,” she said.

Monica Rodriguez, a MP who opposes the increase in wages, is more blunt.

“It's obvious that Maquick intends to help as much as possible,” she said.

Harris-Dawson spokesman Rhonda Mitchell declined to say why her boss pushed for a salary vote Wednesday after receiving legal advice on the Brown Act. The law requires local governments to undergo significant changes in legislative proposals during meetings, and other public opinions are required.

Mitchell said in a text message that Harris-Dawson arranged a new salary vote on Friday because of a city lawyer’s mistake.

“The item was re-granted due to the city attorney’s clerk error, and that’s the correction,” she said.

Mitchell did not provide details about the error. However, the wording of the agendas of the two meetings is indeed different.

Wednesday’s agenda called on the council to ask city lawyers to “prepare and introduce” amendments to the wage law. Friday’s agenda called on the Council to “attend and adopt” the proposed changes.

Here, Local 11's Solidarity spokesman Maria Hernandez said in an email that her union does not control the city council's timeline. Hernandez said the union’s vote for higher dues involves not only its members in Los Angeles, but also thousands of workers in Orange County and Arizona.

“The timing of the voting in the City Council of Los Angeles is not up to us (sadly!) – in fact, we expect to vote more than a year ago – the exact timing is not significant for our members, either,” she said.

Here, 11 local members united here, “overwhelmingly” raising dues on Thursday, allowing unions to double the size of their strike fund and pay the “organizers” for the next round of labor negotiations. She did not disclose the increase in the size of the dues.

Dundas's memorandum, representing the city of Atti. Hydee Feldstein Soto was submitted during Wednesday's deliberations as council members requested some changes to the minimum wage ordinance. At some point, they took a leave so that the attorney could make changes.

By the time the lawyers appeared in a new language, Dundas’s memorandum was pinned to the announcement committee in the boardroom, and the audience quickly took screenshots.