By LIESEN SLANDER Daily Planet Slave
In a move that caught both supporters and critics off guard, at least one hotel in the so-called “Coastal Zone” instituted a “living wage” on Monday.
However, this living wage was passed not for workers on the bottom-end of the pay scale, but for those at the top.
The board of directors for Blinders Hotel, located on the beach near the Santa Monica Pier, voted unanimously on Monday to support CEO Lance Loot and his corporate officers “in a style that befits middle-aged white men of their stature,” according to a press release.
Exact details about the board’s agreement were sketchy.
However, a source with intimate knowledge of the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity said the CEO living wage includes life-long use of the company’s fleet of jets, $2 million in cash per month and, in Loot’s case, an island in the South Pacific.
“We did it as a show of support for our upper management staff, who have done a phenomenal job of late,” said Rich N. Clueless, a Blinders board member, who had just received a parking ticket. “Also it’s because they kicked the unions’ ass.”
Clueless’ comments appeared to imply that Loot and his underlings were being rewarded for helping to defeat Proposition JJ in last November’s election. That ballot measure, which was narrowly defeated by voters, would have forced a group of hotels located on and near the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica that make more than $5 million a year to pay non-salaried, non-tipped employees $10.50 an hour with benefits or $12.25 an hour without.
For his part, Loot didn’t seem to care why the bonus was given.
“I’m just happy that the board recognized that my quality of life is more important than some maid,” he said. “This is good for Santa Monica.”
A union spokesman condemned the “CEO living wage.”
“This hotel hates poor people, it’s as simple as that,” said Charlie Boyscout, a lawyer for the Hotel and Food Employees Union No. 814. “This will cost the company as much for 10 people as it would have cost to implement the first living wage for 100 for a decade.
“We’d have settled for half the amount.”
Veronica Sanchez, a maid at Blinders for the past 27 years, said through an interpreter that she thought the CEO living wage was “shabby.”
“Those people want me to live like an animal, like a pig, while they live like kings,” she said. “I think I can only work here for only another 10 years.”
Similar agreements are under consideration by boards of other hotels in the Coastal Zone.
Santa Monica Mayor Rob Righteous said he was proud that Santa Monica was the first city in the country to institute a CEO living wage.
“We continue to set the example,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 1, 2003. Read the original PDF.