DHS Investigates L.A. County | Hotel Workers Minimum Wage

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The bill handles show on demand on the iheartradioff I AM six forty handle Here in the morning, Crew Amy is back. It's a taco Tuesday, May thirteenth. The President is in Saudi Arabia today and he's going to be visiting other MIDYSN countries. Doesn't look like Israel at least it hasn't been announced yet. And it's all about investment, putting in Saudi Katari Amaradi money into the United States

And this is a subpoena.

That the government DHS requesting all the records from La County Department of Public Social Services to determine if ineligible immigrants have received SSI money Social Security money during the past four years. Homeland Security Secretary Christin Noam said, radical left politicians.

Boy, that's the language.

You're here. A lot in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens.

And so the point of.

All this is to make sure that illegal immigrants do not get federal money under the Social Security Administration. Well, here's the problem. The benefits that do go to these folks do not come from the Feds. This is state money. And do the FEDS have jurisdiction. No, this is state money that says we're going to pay you regardless of

So we're going to supplement.

The state of California is going to do it, and therein lies the fight. For some reason, the Feds, the Trump administration is insisting that somehow this is federal money, even though it can be proven it's not. And so the state's saying, you can't do this, so let's go to second tier. Can the state be forced to stop these payments? Well, in reality, tons of federal government of federal money goes to the states, I mean.

The FED funds.

So many programs. So here is what the government can do, and this is exactly what happened with Harvard. Can we force you to give up your DEEI programs? Well, this is a private institution, so of course the government doesn't.

Have the to issue an order.

For example, no judge is going to say to Harvard you must give up your DEI programs. And this is a private institution. But here's what the FEDS do is they say those nine billion dollars in federal money that we do give to Harvard for various research grants, pel grants, other forms of financial support, those stop unless you give up those DEI programs and you stop your anti Semitic policies.

And add and on, and so this is.

A fight that can the federal government withhold money to the states based on the states are doing something that the states have the power to do and the Feds are wrong in saying this is federal money.

Well, there's another one for the courts.

You know, for the next four years, you're gonna see more cases going into the courts. I mean, by the hundreds, lawsuits will be filed, all right. The governor of the state of California has come out and released a model ordinance for local governments and it's urging California cities and counties to ban homeless encampments. This is one of the issues in which this wild leftist out of controlled governor

On streets that block sidewalks, which is already a law.

But the political atmospheres when the cops rouse these people, you have the homeless advocates going to court and how dare you rouse these people? They have the right to be homeless, which is true. They have the right to camp out on the city sidewalks, which probably not true, parks, probably not, but they do it anyway. And the argument is where are you going to put these people? Because the number of homeless is well, to give you idea, La County sixty thousand people homeless. That's a lot of

Illegal for the.

Unhoused in the city of Los Angeles to refuse to clear space for wheelchairs or to put up tents within five feet of a doorway. Ask any person that owns a business that has a tent six feet away from the front door.

And say, hey, that's a good idea. I really like that.

So he coupled this announcement with the release of three point three billion dollars that we voted to pay into the program in twenty twenty four, and that's to expand health and housing and treatment options for our mentally ill and homeless folks. And the funding is not connected to citi's banning encampments. And the governor pointed out that the funding this three point three billion is in addition to the twenty seven billion dollars the state has already given

Last year, Newso issued in executive order requiring state.

Agencies to remove homeless encampments on state property, county property, city property. Is another issue, and I've as I've said many many times, the issue of homelessness is virtually impossible to deal with for a few reasons. One, Southern California is a great place to be homeless versus let's say upstate New York. I don't know how many people are out on the street in Buffalo in the middle of winter.

That gets a little problematic.

Well, here we are where the land of sunshine, and so the services are particularly good in southern California, and you can't afford housing. I mean, there are people that actually lived in reasonable decent apartments, for example, lost their jobs. They're on the street, They're living in their cars, and some of them are on the sidewalk camping.

And then there's a whole issue is these people.

Would go into shelters because there are beds available, but the.

Shelters don't let you bring in pets.

And how many homeless do you see there with pets on leashes or just hanging loose there on the sidewalk, tons and tons. And for those of you that have dogs and have not eaten them yet, it's your really really tied up with your dogs.

I wouldn't let go of my dogs. I love my dogs. So this is a problem that is just.

You can't deal with this without insane amounts of money. And we've already spent insane amounts of money. Do we spend more? Do we front burner more? I mean, the only way to deal with this is to spend a lot more money. And government is certainly limited in the amount of money it takes in la is at a billion dollar deficit this year. How much more do you pour into homelessness? And your heart goes out to homeless people?

It's no fun. Now I'm glad that I don't.

And I have gone down the sidewalk where I've been asked, do you have change?

Mister?

Do you have any spare change? And I go into my pocket, reach into my pocket and jingle the change and say, yes, I do have change, and then keep on walking. But that's more entertainment than anything else.

Okay, we're done with that. Okay, let me tell you what's going on with minimum wage and this.

I have really mixed feelings about this, and one of them is the philosophy that if someone is working full time, and I really believe this, there should not be a problem, or you still should be able to at least feed yourself and have some kind of housing. And that is not the case. Minimum wage just says and cut it. If you go go to the Hilton Universal City, twenty four stories up there on the hill next to Universal Studios,

It's block booking.

And the city council just approved a plan to let the Hilton add another second building, eighteen story tower, just in time.

For the Olympics.

This is two hundred and fifty million dollars and now the folks that own this are saying, you know what, maybe not. The La City Council is set to vote on a requirement that hotels with sixty or more rooms pay their workers at least thirty dollars an hour by twenty twenty eight, and along with a new eight dollars and thirty five cents per hour healthcare payment.

And if the city Council approves without.

Significant changes, according to the owners, we're going to be pulling out of the room block for the Olympics. We're done and we're going to kill the expansion. Just can't afford it anymore. And last year, the city Council voted twelve to three to draft the package of minimum wage hikes, which would apply not to hotels but also private companies. At LA International, the airport, airlines, concessions, and the minimum wage would be the most in the country by a

Really well with the Olympics.

Don't know about government, but certainly hotels and restaurants and tour companies do pretty well during the Olympics. And so the backers of a higher wages say, hey, listen, you guys do better.

Why shouldn't our workers.

Do better when the Olympics are here? And when these major hoteliers and corporate owners of major venues say, you know what, those wages are simply going to scuttle development of new hotels.

That's a croc.

The backers of the minimum wage proposals say, that is a croc. It's not going to stop them from building new or expanding hotels. And this is their accusation, and it's true, and that is every single time the minimum wage has gone up, you, the owners of hotels and restaurants have said we're done. Business is going to collapse, We're not going to be in business anymore. And in reality, this is prior to COVID, business was going up pretty dramatically.

Neil, there are fast food places closing throughout California.

I agree, but not prior, not prior to COVID.

No, no, no, I'm talking since the minimum wage went up. You know what would be better is if they had profit sharing that is tied in automatically to the growth of a business.

Rather here and I don't disagree, but you're a union leader, okay, And this is where you and I disagree because the union backers are arguing that's not true. Because the reason in that places close up is not that minimum wage is they're just simply not making enough money. They make money, but just not enough money. They don't hit what businesses require. And so when you talk about the profit sharing, which makes a lot of sense, well, profits go up and they go down.

That's the way business works.

If your profit sharing, do you simply say, okay, you get a piece of the profits when they go up, But when the company does badly. Let's see one year it loses money, which happens to business all the time. Do the wages go down? Of course not because you have a baseline. It doesn't matter what that's like. Colpers the retirement system that teachers pay into, for example, and county employees or state employees pay into.

It's a one way street.

When the economy increases and the investments do really well, CalPERS increases your portfolio, your four to oh one k, the investments that they have increase in value.

When it goes down, the state just picks up the difference.

That's all.

It's a one way street. It's all up. Nothing is down.

When I make more money, the union takes more of it.

Well that's a different issue.

Now when you make more money, the government picks up a lot more money from you. But that's a different issue at a different time. All right.

I want to come back and continue on.

With this because there is a real moral issue, an ethical issue involved in this. One of them being and right back to what I've always said, we should not have a society where if you work full time, you can't feed yourself or you can't have housing.

That's a tough one and.

Businesses are saying, hang on a minute, we've got to make money.

Both of which are true.

City Council is going to propose or meeting tomorrow that during or prior to the Olympics at hotels and restaurants thirty dollars an hour minimum wage actually thirty dollars and twenty five cents, and developers and owners of restaurants are going, we just can't afford it anymore.

We're done, We're done. And then you have a.

Hotel developers saying we're not going to develop like we have asked for and gotten permits for, that's all, and the unions are saying, that's.

A croc that you still are going to develop.

Amy came in and said during the course of the break that she just got back from France and they didn't have to worry about minimum wage at the counters because there was no one at the counter.

So, Amy, what did you experience there?

So it was it was actually we did not go into a McDonald they had them in France. It was when we were in Canterbury, England, and we were Jones and for a diet coke with ice, because in a cup that you just kind of can't get And we went in and there are no cash registers at the counter. It's all kiosks. There were a few people putting the actual orders together. But even the soda machine is fully automated.

You know.

And that's a point where the union folks, and in many cases there are ludd ites and are saying, we don't want technology. I mean, that's what has happened many times. What we need is people still working there, and plenty of people working there. That happened during the course of automation in auto plants, and it's certainly happened during the fight between the railroad workers union and the railroads and

Is it going to be true? You know?

For example, in Long Beach, residents voted to raise the hotel minimum wage last year, revenue per available room went up sixteen percent, and that's what the unions are arguing, And in reality, the people that own the hotels are saying, you know what, it's a lot more in the We really don't want to even talk about wages because don't talk about your living expenses and how difficult it is.

It's the cost of housing, it's inflation.

It's the cost of living in southern California that's the problem, not the wayes.

And the union says, so that's a croc.

You say you're not going to build, and at the same time you build. So when are the developers right? And the union says, okay, we were wrong, when in fact they don't build. You've got a couple of permits going up, particularly in Universal, for example, eighteen stories going up in a building next to the Hilton, the big hotel, and they've been given the okay, and the developer says, you know what, we're done.

We're not going to pay this.

We're simply not going to build this addition to the hotel, and the union says that's.

Bs okay, So they don't build. Now does the union say it's a real struggle? It is a real struggle.

And why only hotel workers when and fast food workers? How about the people that are on the manufacturing line. How come they don't get those wages?

But the union doesn't create any jobs. That's not a job creator.

No, it's not companies that are building hotels, restaurants and fast food places.

But the argument is here is the argument.

You want to call it a socialist argument, and it is you couldn't increase your business without us. You are making money on our backs. And the answer is, well, yeah, that's the way it works with owners of business and employees. Yeah, you know, welcome to a capitalist, a capitalistic system. And then you have other countries around the world where the unions are so strong. For example, in Germany, you have

It's a different world, all.

Right, kf I am sixty. You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.