Los Angeles Weighs Construction Worker Wage Hike

Construction workers in the City of Los Angeles could see the floor for their wages get considerably higher.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles City Councilmembers Curren Price and Hugo Soto-Martínez introduced a motion to commission a study on the effects of setting a $32.35 minimum wage for all residential construction projects in the city with 10 or more residential units and under 85 feet in height, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In addition to investigating the effects of such a minimum wage increase, the study would also examine the impact of an additional healthcare credit of $7.65 per hour for construction workers on such projects, according to the Times.

Price and Soto-Martínez’s motion argues that increasing wages and benefits is a necessary step to bring in more workers as the city continues to rebuild after the Palisades and Eaton fires. As fears across the construction world mount amid ongoing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids, demand for labor has surged as workers leave the industry.

“We cannot allow an underground economy to continue exploiting vulnerable workers while our housing crisis deepens,” Price said in a press release, calling a construction worker minimum wage increase “a common-sense step toward dignity, stability and fairness in one of our city’s most critical industries.”

“Construction workers who build housing in Los Angeles should be able to afford to live in Los Angeles,” Soto-Martínez added.

Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado joined Price and Soto-Martínez in their support for the motion. Construction unions and housing groups such as Abundant Housing L.A. and Housing Action Coalition have also voiced their support for a wage increase, according to the Times.

“These are workers who can’t afford a roof over their head, yet we rely on them to build the roofs over our own,” Pete Rodriguez, western district vice president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, said.

Under the proposal, construction projects that already pay union-level prevailing wage and benefits would be exempt.

The idea drew backlash from Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, who called the idea “absolute insanity,” according to the Times. Many apartment developers already have been avoiding building in L.A. partially because of Measure ULA. “This will drive what little construction we have out of L.A.,” Waldman said.

A similar minimum wage increase for hotel and airport workers in Los Angeles faced similar pushback from business owners. Opponents sought to repeal the city’s $30 minimum wage ordinance but failed to secure the minimum number of valid signatures needed to put the repeal before voters in a referendum.

The construction worker wage motion will proceed to a committee hearing.

— Chris Malone Méndez