Commentary: Irvine should preserve its living-wage ordinance

In Irvine, American’s safest, greenest and a “best-managed” city, the conservative City Council majority will vote on whether to repeal the city’s living-wage ordinance, passed in 2007.

It made sure that workers of companies hired to perform work for the city were paid at least $10 an hour if they received benefits or slightly more than $13 an hour if they did not.

The entire repeal initiative stems from a custodial contract in which the lowest bidder withdrew the winning bid, even after being told of Irvine’s requirement in pre-bid meetings. The conservative majority jumped on this custodial contract as an excuse to move to the wrong side of the wage-inequity debate.

News that the City Council in Los Angeles has passed a five-year plan to raise the minimum wage from $9 an hour to $15 by 2020 adds to the wave of cities moving toward helping the working poor. San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Oakland have initiatives to raise their wage minimums, and even conservative states like Alaska and South Dakota have passed wage increases via ballot measures.

Irvine Councilman Jeffrey Lalloway told the Voice of OC that the city’s living-wage ordinance is falsely labeled because the minimums aren’t enough for a family to live comfortably in the city. Lalloway is right.

Apartments in Orange County in general are approaching $1,611 a month, and rents go up while wages — especially for lower paying jobs — remain flat. The living wage should be about $20 an hour — and only on contracts greater than $100,000.

Lalloway told the Voice of OC that government shouldn’t be interfering in transactions between consenting individuals, and brought out the old canard that the city’s voters spoke when they elected a conservative majority.

But what Lalloway forgets is that the city has adhered to this standard for eight years, and residents voiced no opposition to the policy.

Paying employees higher wages results in better-quality work and greater loyalty from employees — look no further than In-N-Out Burger and Costco. You get what you pay for.

The move to repeal Irvine’s living-wage ordinance, which once was a model for the nation, flies in the face of national trends to help the working poor. And it’s further evidence our council majority knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Shame on them.

Irvine resident DAN CHMIELEWSKI runs a technology communications agency in Tustin. He is the editor and publisher of TheLiberalOC, a political blog.