Recommendation to direct City Manager to sunset LBMC Chapters 5.53, 5.55, and 8.110 no sooner than February 28, 2022.
She miscarried. Item 34 Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Zendejas. Councilwoman Allen. Recommendations Direct City Manager to Sunset Long Beach Municipal Code. Chapter 5.535.55 and 8.110. No sooner than February 28th, 2022. Thank you. This is a pretty straightforward recommendation. Last summer, we proposed a number of protections for workers at the onset of the pandemic, and we received a two from Ford memo from the city manager indicating those will expire at the end of the year. We want to extend those for two months in order to ensure that we get through the holidays and have a broader conversation about what the phase out timeline and schedule should be. And so that's my motion for a second. Okay. So it looks like a seconded by councilwoman and they have councilmember. Thank you very much, Vice Mayor. We're going to come. Had gotten confused there for a minute. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor, I think that this is a very, very important item. As we know, we are still not out of this COVID situation. So a lot of our our hard working families who have been affected by COVID and by their you know, by being displaced from their jobs, still aren't in a position to be okay with this. And we still don't know what the ramifications of this COVID in in that the economy itself will be like. So I'm very happy to support this item and to give others the opportunity to be able to take advantage of this very important items. So thank you. Thank you, Councilman Price. Q Mr. Vice Mayor, I agree the ongoing COVID 19 emergency certainly requires that we continue to find ways to. Protect workers. Especially those in high contact industries. The one question I would have is what communication has occurred with the stakeholders regarding this extension so that they can prepare for it and make sure there is so that people know they have it and people know not to violate it. Certainly knows that. The point here is that we want to extend it because it's a difficult time to go do outreach to any of the stakeholders during the holidays. So we want to get past the holidays and have a and have the opportunity to have a more full policy conversation. Councilwoman Allen. Yes. Thank you, Vice Mayor, for your leadership on this item. Every three months we receive the staff update on protections, and I've checked in with the local unions on it. And this most recent update is no different. Some of our most vulnerable workers haven't seen the same recovery yet that others have. Many people still need reliable childcare and vaccinations. Vaccines are not yet available to all ages, though. We're getting closer. So I just think that it's short. It's premature to end all these protections. Let's keep these in place at least a little longer so we can check in on businesses and employees after the New Year and see how we move forward from there. Thank you very much. Thank you. There are two people here on public comment. There's Paul Evans and Robert, not Paul. Just briefly. Let's let the ordinance sunset. The current COVID circumstances do not warrant further intervention. Let's get back to normal. Thank you, Robert. Evening. Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor of. Richardson and members of the Council. Rob Note, our policy director with the. Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, will be proud to represent 300 union affiliates, represent 800,000 proud, hard, hardworking women and men across all industries here in Los Angeles County, several of whom live and work right here in the. City of Long Beach. And I'm here tonight to speak on. This item because as you can imagine, the Fed is 100%. Opposed to sunsetting this ordinance. At this current time. And I'll explain why. First, while we're all cautiously optimistic that we're close to the end of this pandemic. And we can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel, the reality is we still have a lot of work. We're still in uncertain grounds. We still have a lot of work to do, especially with the Omnicom variant. We don't know what's going to happen. There are still a number of other variants that we. Will probably be exposed to. And we could easily find ourselves in the midst of another. Of another massive outbreak. Second, as we all know, once the pandemic is finally over, the economic devastation. That. Is going to be left in the wake. Of this is going to take years to recover from. For instance, we all know the devastation that the Great Recession had, and that was peanuts compared to the devastation that this pandemic has had on the hospitality industry. So 4 to 5 years to recover from that, we only know how many years it's going to take for the hospitality to fully recover. Has been devastated. As a result of this pandemic as we currently speak. Speaking of the hospitality industry, the role of private equity is also starting to take hold in this industry. So you're seeing a number of of hotels. And janitorial companies who are on financially shaky ground. And there are private. Private equity is looking to purchase and buy up some of these hotels and some of these companies. And that is exactly. What the retention ordinance was put in place for, to protect workers, to make sure they can remain in their job and withstand and withhold and keep their same wages and benefits in the event that there is a transfer of ownership. And I will remind you that these that these industries, primarily the janitorial and hospitality industries, are overwhelmingly populated with working women of color at that. And they fought years to get wages and benefits to the levels at the hour right now. And lastly, the right. Of recall ordinance is a useful tool for bringing people back to work. We've all heard about reports where. People are struggling to bring people. Back. Well, with the recall ordinance, it helps to bring people back to work to maintain those same wages and benefits that they have earned over the years. And they also have the expertize. So employers don't have to actually retrain. These workers. So all that said, it's premature to sunset this ordinance right now. We should at least push this back at minimum. Another 60 days. And let's have a broader discussion. Thank you. For listening. Thank you, members. Please cast your vote and then we're going to general public comment. Ocean carries. All right. I think you have a list of folks signed up for public comment.