Labor Issues

City Moves Forward with Living Wage Ordinance

City Moves Forward with Living Wage Ordinance

By David GreenwaldSeptember 25, 200832 comments

On Tuesday night, city council anonymously moved forward by asking the city staff to draft an ordinance that would bring contracted workers up to $11 per hour or $12.50 per hour should health benefits not be included.

Councilmember Lamar Heystek pushed for the city to move towards a fifty percent of Yolo County median over a period of time. The council direction came on a 3-2 vote with Councilmembers Sue Greenwald and Stephen Souza joining Mr. Heystek.

Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor cynically asked staff about the absence of affected employees at this meeting.

“In all of the conversations we’ve had on this, I’ve not seen any of the affected employees in the room, and we’ve not heard from them, that’s unusual, why is that?”

Mayor Greenwald Joins Councilmember Heystek in Support of Sodexho Workers

Mayor Greenwald Joins Councilmember Heystek in Support of Sodexho Workers

By David GreenwaldApril 17, 2008120 comments

On Monday April 14, 2008, Davis Mayor Sue Greenwald wrote a letter to UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, making public her “support of Sodexho workers’ requests.”

Greenwald has met with Sodexho workers over the past two years and chose to make her support public now as she and City Councilmember Lamar Heystek have begun taking public actions for a Living Wage City Ordinance.

Mayor Sue Greenwald in a letter to Chancellor Vanderhoef wrote:

“I feel strongly that if the University truly believes in its ‘Principals of Community’ ethic it would treat all of its workers with the respect and equity that they are due.”

Lamar Heystek’s Persistence Pays Off in Consensus on Living Wage for City Employees

Lamar Heystek’s Persistence Pays Off in Consensus on Living Wage for City Employees

By David GreenwaldMarch 20, 2008117 comments

It has been a long and at times difficult road that Councilmember Lamar Heystek has taken en route to the first step towards a $13 per hour living wage for city employees and city contracted employees.

Some of the same Councilmembers, specifically Stephen Souza and Don Saylor, who praised the persistence and patience of Councilmember Heystek on Tuesday night, had put up roadblocks in the past toward achieving a living wage ordinance.

In Councilmember Lamar Heystek’s second meeting on the Davis City Council, on August 1, 2006, he brought up the issue of having a living wage for all businesses in Davis larger than 50 employees. The Council led then by Don Saylor and Stephen Souza voted by a 3-2 margin not to agendize the item for discussion. Instead they encouraged Councilmember Heystek to bring the item back as a Councilmember item–which meant it would not have staff prepared remarks or a recommendation.