It is over.
Last person, turn out the lights and go home.
After Mayor Garcetti signed the Los Angeles City Council’s minimum wage ordinance into law on Saturday at MLK Park in the Crenshaw District, the Los Angeles Times declared the disagreements over it officially dead.
Said the Times’s headline:
“Mayor’s signature marks end of wage hike battle.”
“This is about the idea that when someone works hard,” said Mayor Garcetti, “they should be able to support themselves and support their families.”
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, state Assemblyman representing Culver City and the Crenshaw District, voiced the majority view of the winners over the resistors on ultimately forcing businesses to pay the least of their workers $15 an hour:
“Sometimes the private sector must be compelled to turn back to investments,” he said. “The economy is slowly recovering,
“That recovery has been uneven largely because of denying higher wage jobs that I fight for.
“Growth is a big part of that. I am a supporter of well-compensated workers when there is growth. The money at the top has to be spread across the economy. They can’t horde cash, and we cannot allow slippage in the lives of working people in this state.”
Mr. Ridley-Thomas was asked about the yardstick he uses to determine a balance between standing up for workers’ rights while defending businesses.
“Often they are not diametrically opposed,” the second-term Assemblyman said. “Everybody wants access to quality education, healthcare, safe communities, the opportunity to advance in life, and to have a secure retirement in his and her golden years.
“That is California’s golden promise,” said Mr. Ridley-Thomas. “When you are born, your zip code is not a social determinator of your outcome. As you grow, you have as many opportunities as you can to advance, to climb to the heights.
“When you settle down and have your own family,” said the 27-year-old legislator, “your children can have the same, if not better opportunities, than you have had.
“And in your aging years, if you no longer can work because of injury, there must be protection that either you have invested in or society has to insure that you do not become destitute and have a productive life for your remaining years.”
(To be continued)
