Voting ends today, Oct. 3, in Anaheim’s special election deciding if hotel and event center workers should get a $25 an hour minimum wage along with other workplace regulations.
If Measure A gets a majority of voters’ support, it would raise wages for hotel and event center workers not already at that level, as well as require double pay if hotel workers clean more than 3,500 to 4,000 square feet of rooms a day, depending on the hotel’s size. Measure A would also require panic buttons to be provided to housekeepers, 24/7 security guards and paid time to report incidents to the police. The City Council this summer adopted many of the safety measures in a separate resolution that will go into effect next year.
The minimum wage rules would also apply to event center workers as well.
Ballots were mailed to registered voters in the city. There are seven voting center locations where voters can cast their ballots in person. Polls close at 8 p.m. today.
Voters who choose to drop off their ballot need to have it into one of the secure official drop boxes in Anaheim by 8 p.m. And, those mailing in their ballot need to have it postmarked by Oct. 3. You can find a list of ballot return locations on the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ website. Ballot envelopes must be signed.
Measure A has put Unite Here Local 11, a labor union that in part represents hotel workers, at loggerheads with city hoteliers. The union developed the initiative and argues that passing it would be a step toward allowing housekeepers to afford to live where they work, while hoteliers counter that by saying the workload regulations would be hard to staff and make it harder to keep their businesses running, ultimately harming the city’s tax revenue.
Anaheim has more than 180 hotels and likely dozens more event centers that Measure A’s rules would apply to, including the Anaheim Convention Center, the House of Blues and the Anaheim Family YMCA.
Fliers for and against the initiative…
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