Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/anaheim-minimum-wage-initiative/)
The hotel industry and labor unions spent record amounts on Measure L, which would require city subsidized businesses to pay their workers $18 an hour starting in 2022.
An Anaheim mayoral candidate forum turned into a debate over the role of the Disneyland Resort in the city elections and the minimum wage initiative on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The Disneyland Resort pumped another $600,000 Wednesday toward influencing the Anaheim City Council election, surpassing its previous spending record with more than $1.5 million spent so far this year.
The Disneyland Resort has spent almost $1 million to influence Anaheim city council campaigns and oppose a minimum wage initiative with three weeks to go before the Nov. 6 election, more than it spent at this point ahead of the 2016 election.
Public commenters told the Anaheim City Council and its city attorney Tuesday that big hotels aren’t the only businesses affected by a proposed $18-an-hour minimum wage initiative on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Anaheim City Attorney Robert Fabela said the Disneyland Resort is exempt from a “living wage” initiative on the November general election ballot, known as Measure L, because the company isn’t receiving a tax rebate, according to his report.
Roughly 2,700 hospitality workers at the Disneyland Resort will get a $15 minimum wage, after members of UNITE HERE Local 11 ratified a new contract over the weekend.
The Disneyland Resort has reached a tentative deal with hotel workers to raise minimum wages from $13.25 to $15 an hour starting in 2019, according to Disney and one of the unions.
The Disneyland Resort is asking Anaheim officials to cancel two major tax subsidy deals, saying the deals have become “a flashpoint for controversy and dissention [sic] in our community.”
Disney put an indefinite hold on construction of a four-star Anaheim-subsidized 700-room hotel because of a dispute with the city over the hotel’s location, according to a Wednesday letter Disney sent to Anaheim officials.
