Wage Increases Required For A Los Angeles Land Development Project

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/5491

Wage Increases Required For A Los Angeles Land Development Project

As part of a landmark decision, the Los Angeles City Council has approved a wage hike for Latino and Korea-American workers at California Market, as part of a redevelopment project agreement . Leilani Albano has more with the story.

By Leilani Albano

After learning that California Market owners were planning to reconstruct one site into a massive three-story mall, organizers with the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, or KIWA, waged a year-long campaign stipulating that employers increase wages for workers, as a condition for the store’s re-opening. Their efforts paid off. This month, City Council members approved their renovation plans, after business owners agreed to a higher pay scale for its 100 employees.

: "For the first time in Los Angeles, a wage condition was attached to a land-use approval for a redevelopment project."

That was, campaign coordinator with the Korean Immigrant Workers Association.

{Nguyen 2]: "So basically we won a phased-in wage condition at the Koreantown supermarket to pay a dollar above the minimum wage."

Luis Roberto Soto is a maintenance worker at California Market.

{Luis Roberto Soto]: "I think it’s really good, because that’s a good opportunity for us to have a better life quality…."

Under the plan, workers would receive 85 cents above the minimum wage, and one dollar after 4 years of its implementation.

AUDIO story here: http://www.laborradio.org/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram