Politics Report: Minimum Wage Dealmaking Wraps Up

Recently a poll circulated gauging the public’s interest in an initiative to repeal the new trash fee the city of San Diego implemented. I don’t know yet who did the poll but just that it was out there may have been the point. The message: We can hit back.

Big hotels, SeaWorld, the Padres all got enough concessions out of the city’s push for a new minimum wage for hotel workers to keep them from funding a referendum. But the business community also seems to be ready to take a more confrontational approach to the City Council and mayor if more of these things come up in coming weeks.

First, the deals: The minimum wage is $17.25 per hour and pegged to inflation. After a flurry of negotiations this week In the new ordinance going to the full City Council Tueday, the minimum wage for workers at large hotels would go to $19 per year next summer and increase every year another $1.50 until 2030 when it hits $25. Then it will be pegged to inflation.

Event centers that already must pay the current living wage at a minimum, which is $21.06 per hour, will see a slower phase in to $25 per hour by 2030. That kept the Padres from a referendum. But the definition of “event centers” changed conspicuously leaving out Sand Diego State University’s Snapdragon Stadium. We still don’t exactly know what SDSU officials agreed to that spared the Stadium.

 “We continue to have conversations, and appreciate you reaching out. We also appreciate the City hearing our concerns and engaging in such productive conversations. There are no finalized details we can share with you at this time,” said La Monica Everett-Haynes the university’s associate vice president and chief communications officer.

The Zoo is also out.

“They have reached agreements that have better accounted for the needs of their workers,” said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera.

I have heard SDSU leaders came to agreements with the hotel workers union and stage workers. They aren’t full collective bargaining agreements but perhaps steps that will get them there. In its story about the ordinance, the Union-Tribune paraphrased Elo-Rivera on the deal. “… Elo-Rivera said he was reassured there are plans in the works to significantly increase wages and benefits for concessions workers and audio-visual technicians.”

Last to agree: Finally Friday, SeaWorld officials agreed to drop a threat of a referendum if the minimum wage applied to them matched the phase in the hotels got.

“I am glad we got to a place where we were having meaningful conversations with business leaders,” Elo-Rivera said. “I just wasn’t going to accept San Diego’s fragility as a tourist destination as cause for not paying people a decent wage and we made progress over the past few weeks.”

The opposition: The Chamber of Commerce, led by Elo-Rivera’s former colleague on the City Council, Chris Cate, still opposes the ordinance.

“We don’t believe proposals like this should target a specific industry,” Cate said (Cate is a member of the Voice of San Diego Board of Directors.) “We don’t think those types of measures benefit business owners or San Diegans. We still believe this proposal is not going to address the root causes of the problem they’re trying to solve, which is the cost of living in San Diego.”

But he acknowledged despite sending a flurry of campaign-style text messages telling voters to call their Councilmember to try to stop the ordinance, the Chamber doesn’t have the resources to run a referendum.

“What we wanted to showcase through this process is that the Chamber is going to take very seriously all policy proposals that we believe are going to impact our businesses and San Diegans with higher costs and we demonstrated that,” Cate said.

A smaller group of businesses called Business for Good released a statement supporting the ordinance. “The cost of living in San Diego has become unsustainable, and working people are desperate for relief,” said Mikey Knab, co-founder of the networking group.

Nathan Fletcher Speaks

For the first time since he vanished from public life, former County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher made an appearance with his wife, Lorena Gonzalez, and attorney. Our Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña was there. Fletcher spoke for a while and took some questions before exiting flanked by a security guard.

He provided some background on the weeks leading up to the lawsuit against him from former Metropolitan Transit District employee Grecia Figueroa. Before her allegations went public, her attorney had sought a settlement.

“My wife’s cancer diagnosis triggered great fears of abandonment and loss. The death threats that we endured at the county. The arson attack in our home impacted me a lot more than I wanted to acknowledge or admit. It really triggered a lot of hypervigilance and brought back a lot of things related to combat. And I felt like I had to try and hold it all together. I felt like I had to project, like everything was fine, because that’s what was expected of me. But internally, I was really struggling. And it was a struggle that only those closest to me could really see. But it felt like a lot of times I was walking a tightrope, just barely holding on.

“And so when I faced a extortion demand with an unethical attorney who demanded $5 million, or they would destroy my career, my Senate race, and my reputation, it was a lot to carry. They were gonna make accusations that they knew were false. And I carried that burden for almost six weeks by myself. There was no one I could tell or share it with. And when it all became public, it was a heavy load.

“I had a choice to make of doing what was best for my family or what was best for my career. And it was the easiest choice I ever made,” he said.

A reporter asked if he’d be getting back into politics. He said no.

“I’m not being coy and I’m not, you know, doing any of that. …I haven’t missed it. And the thought of it just makes me nauseous. When I say there’s no interest, I mean, there’s no interest. And there there’s no desire at all. And, you know, I think part of it is politics makes people hate each other. You don’t even know each other. … You spend enough time in that, and you start to think that’s the way the world is. And then you get out of it and you realize that’s not how the world is. It’s not, people are kind. They’re caring, they’re compassionate, they’re loving.”

Notes

LAFCO isn’t going away: This was an extraordinary story to me. San Diego County Water Authority leaders must have felt like their settlement with Metropolitan Water District and the beginning of efforts to sell some of the excess water we’ve secured had given them some respite from the calls to overhaul or dissolve the agency. But no, LAFCO has hired a consultant to perform a service level audit of the Water Authority that could very lead to a really uncomfortable discussion.

If you have any feedback or ideas for the Politics Report, send them to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.

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