#  Do LA Council Members Pay Their Gardeners, Cleaners at Least $15 an Hour?

     Details    Dakota Smith   ![logo](https://www.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         June 01 2015       [ARCHIVE](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive)   - [  Previous Article **For a Better LA, Be Disruptive** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9092:for-a-better-la-be-disruptive&catid=16)
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> ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/May-2015/045f.png)MEDIA … WHAT THEY’RE SAYING-Amid Los Angeles City Hall’s [push to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 by 2020](http://www.dailynews.com/business/20150519/los-angeles-passes-minimum-wage-increase-that-reaches-15-by-2020), some city lawmakers say they already are paying at least that hourly rate to the gardeners, housekeepers and baby sitters who work at their homes.
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> South LA and downtown City Councilman Curren Price, who co-introduced the minimum wage ordinance, employs a housekeeper and pays her more than $20 an hour, a Price spokeswoman said.
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> Price declined to release her name, citing privacy concerns.
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> On the east side of Los Angeles, City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell pays two gardeners $60 a month for about an hour’s work total at his home, an O’Farrell spokesman said.
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> Like Price, O’Farrell — and the other council members who responded to this news organization’s questions about outside workers — declined to release the names of the workers.
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> Council members earn $184,610 annually, among the highest in the country for city lawmakers.
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> Those making the $9-an-hour minimum wage earn about $16,000 annually, according to a [UC Berkeley study](https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/mayorofla/pages/16525/attachments/original/1409359657/min_wage_los_angeles.pdf?1409359657%20) commissioned by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
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> Asked what hourly wages council members pay for household services, about half the 15-member council declined to comment or didn’t respond to the request.
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> City Councilman Felipe Fuentes, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley, has contracts with businesses that provide household services and a child care provider, all of whom he pays above $15 an hour, his spokeswoman said.
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> The councilman also pays for vacation and sick time, she said.
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> Valley Councilman Bob Blumenfield and his family also hire employees to handle home maintenance and child care-related tasks, a Blumenfield spokesman said.
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> Those employees “earn decent wages in excess of $15 per hour in addition to vacation, sick time, social security and other benefits,” the spokesman said.
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> The hourly mean wage for housekeepers and cleaners in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region is $12.17, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure is $11.06 for child care workers.
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> Amid sometimes emotional debates about the minimum wage and economic inequality, several council members have cited their humble upbringings in arguing for a citywide pay hike.
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> At a council meeting two weeks ago, Price recalled growing up in a working-class family in South LA, while Councilwoman Nury Martinez said her father made $13,000 a year as a dishwasher.
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> In raising wages, Los Angeles is poised to join Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle in hiking citywide pay.
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> Garcetti first proposed the hike last year, telling crowds at a South LA event that the city’s $9 wage is a “poverty wage.”
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> Garcetti resides in the Getty House, the official mayoral residence, with his family. Garcetti spokesman Jeff Millman said the mayor pays any worker in his household “at least” $15 an hour.
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> At least three City Council members — Gil Cedillo, Tom LaBonge and Bernard Parks — said they don’t hire any outside workers. Parks, who has two grandchildren, said: “I baby-sit periodically for free.”
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> *(Dakota Smith covers City Hall for the Daily News. She can be reached at [dakota.smith@dailynews.com](mailto:dakota.smith@dailynews.com "E-Mail Dakota Smith"). Posted originally by the Daily News.)*
>
> -cw
>
> CityWatch
>
> Vol 13 Issue 45
>
> Pub: Jun 2, 2015

  - [  Previous Article **For a Better LA, Be Disruptive** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9092:for-a-better-la-be-disruptive&catid=16)
- [  Next Article **Mired In the Politics of Affordable Health Care** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9094:mired-in-the-politics-of-affordable-health-care&catid=16)
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