Los Angeles Councilmember Kevin de León, Council District 14, left, hugs city Mayor Eric Garcetti, middle, before the official opening of the Sixth Street Viaduct on July 8, 2022.
This article was produced by Capital & Main, an award-winning publication that reports from California on economic, political, and social issues. It is co-published here with permission.
When the Los Angeles City Council approved a measure last month strengthening pay and security protections for hotel workers, it wasn’t merely a victory for union organizers and the thousands whom they represent. It was also a point on the timeline of an emerging pattern: local governments doing the work that the federal government either can’t or won’t.
“It’s a reflection of a lack of leadership at the federal level,” Kevin de León, the L.A. councilman who championed the hotel ordinance, told Capital & Main. “Not much happens, really, in Washington, D.C. — it’s become a sideshow in the American body politic. And when there’s a lack of leadership, the local government should be able to step up and set the rules.”
Increasingly, that’s exactly what is happening. In both larger cities and smaller municipalities — New York; Duluth, Minn.; San Jose; Durham, N.C. — local governing bodies have moved to protect worker rights, ensure that they’re paid fairly, limit the potential for abuse and prevent low-road employers from being rewarded for regressive practices.
They are the kinds...
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