Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending and restating Chapter 5.53, and repealing Section 5.53.090, relating to Covid-19 worker retention, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Thank you. I've had a request to do ordinance 18 and 19. So let's go to Ordnance 18, the first reading, I believe. Report from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance relating to COVID 19 worker retention. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading Citywide. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Richardson. And I have a second backcountry ranger does as a staff need to give an update on this ordinance or I mean we have it. Which audience? And I'm sorry, do we? The question was whether or not we need to. Give an update on the ordinance. Oh, I just I just wasn't sure if there was any, any, any update from staff on the ordinance as presented to us or not? No, I don't think so. This is what you would ask us to do. And we're ready for first reading. Okay. Just making sure. Okay. There's a motion from the second Vice Mayor Richardson. Anything. Having scored okay. Gives me ringa. Okay. Is there any public comment on this item? If there's any members of the public that wish to speak on this item, please raise hand feature or dialing in by telephone press star nine. Our first speaker is Christina. Hello. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Christina. You guys hear me? We can hear you. Yeah, great. I am speaking on behalf of Unite Here Local 11, the Hotel Workers Union. We want to thank the Council for taking the initiative for the hotel workers and building services workers and leading the region as our members face mass layoffs at the height of the pandemic. Many are still struggling to recover. We urge you to adopt these permanent regulations to unite our industry, which is the economic backbone of the city, is especially sensitive to disruptions in the economy. We faced this reality back during 911, which is why the city of Santa monica responded by passing the right to recall ordinance. The hard worker, working hotel housekeepers and janitors that welcome guests into the city every day deserve to have some basic job security, not just during the pandemic. But if, God willing, we are to experience another massive disruption in the future. Thank you again to the entire Council. So that has been supportive of these regulations since they were first enacted and we are encouraged to see the council headed in the right direction this evening. Thank you so much. Our next speaker is Rob, north of. Thank you. Good evening. Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor Richardson and members of the council. My name is Rob. No talk from the policy director of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. And I'd like to thank the Council tonight for your collective leadership in moving this item forward and strongly encourage your vote to make right of recall and retention permanent policies for hospitality and janitorial workers. This is a tool that will greatly assist workers in two essential industries as they pieced their lives back together after the pandemic. And it's a tool that will greatly assist the city in its overall economic recovery. And further passing. This policy will yet again show that Long Beach is a national leader. And let me explain. As fate would have it, there was an article over the weekend highlighting the crisis currently being faced by housekeepers and other service workers seeking to get rehired after the pandemic and recover their wages and benefits. And by passing tonight's policies that not only benefit Long Beach workers, the Long Beach economy, but you also give a ray of hope to a work to other workers in the hospitality janitorial industries across the rest of the nation. And you'll be the first to have this policy for both hospitality and janitorial workers. So, again, thank you for your time. And that's proved yet again that Long Beach does, in fact, lead. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Grazia Lopez. There is. Good evening, Mayor, and members of the Council. My name is Gracie. Local three is Director of Link Lambert Coalition for Good Jobs. Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson and Councilwoman and they had Councilwoman Allen for bringing this item forward. We strongly support making Long Beach right of record retention, permanent policies in Long Beach. We need to ensure that there is an equitable recovery for all. And as many of us know. Right. Hospitality and janitorial workers are the key to this ongoing recovery. Making these protections permanent policies in Long Beach is critical for businesses and workers. We today we hear more and more of businesses reporting difficulty filling open jobs as these key industries begin to slowly recover. It is essential for businesses to have a pathway to quickly rehire qualified and experienced staff that we that were laid off as a result of this crisis. These policies are economically sound for business right to record retention, remove the economic costs associated with onboarding new employees, which can cost thousands of dollars per employee. Lastly, Miami Beach has invested millions of dollars in this downtown hospitality industry with the promise of a return of good jobs for Long Beach residents. Locking in permanent right to recall and retention ordinance for these two industries help to protect that promise of a return of good jobs to Long Beach residents. We urge you to make the Long Beach right a record retention, permanent policies in our city. These policies will help spearhead a strong, robust recovery. Thank you so much. Our next speaker is Ann Burdette. Good evening. My name is Brigette. And first of all, I just want to say I every day I get more proud of being Long Beach. So thank you for making me feel so proud of my community every day. And on behalf of the faith communities of Long Beach and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, I want to thank this council especially for recognizing and it is a moral imperative to safeguard the livelihoods of those residents that have been most terribly affected by this pandemic. Guaranteeing the right of essential hotel and janitorial workers to return to their jobs is an enlightened policy, and it demonstrates your ethical and economic commitment to equity. Making the right to recall a retention policy enforceable as a permanent ordinance is the next important step to ensuring the safety and well-being of our city. And we include strongly support items 18 and 19 and urge you to repeat your unanimous vote in favor of this policy that you made on February 15. Thank you again for your diligence and for your integrity in moving these items forward with your yes votes tonight. Thank you. Our final speaker is Gary Heidrich. Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Gary Hetrick and I reside in the Fort District. I'd like to begin by thanking the Council and the mayor for your leadership on this. I think there's a critical issue. I also echo what the other speakers have just mentioned. I'm speaking out tonight as co-president of the Language Chapter, the California Faculty Association Association. BE we represent over 2900 faculty, coaches, librarians and counselors. At issue, I'll be on behalf of our members. I urge you to make the right to recall and retention permanent policies. Hospitality and janitor. Janitorial workers are essential workers who not only suffered greatly during the pandemic, but are key to our region's recovery. These policies are critical to protecting the lives and the livelihoods of Long Beach workers and also helping ensure that businesses recover. CFA Long Beach support for these ordinances making these ordinance permanent is really simple. First, CSU educates the majority of essential workers in our state. Many of our students, as well as parents of other students, are essential workers. Both will directly benefit from these two policies. Second, Sue Shelby has proven to be a pathway to the middle class for thousands of working class and first generation students. Although Shelby is one of the most successful drivers of upward social mobility in this country, this only works if working families and working students in these essential industries have the economic stability to take advantage of, casual , be and can afford the cost. These policies will help ensure that happens. I urge you to make these protections permanent. Recovery means everyone. Thank you for your time and your leadership. That concludes public comment on this item. Thank you. Let's go and do a role. I believe that also I don't have any more comment from the council. So let's go ahead and do a we'll call the police district one. I district to. My. District three, my district four. I. District five. I. District six. I. District seven. I. District eight. District nine. Hi. Motion is carried. Thank you. Next up is the ordinance number 19.