SANTA MONICA – On Tuesday June 26th, the Santa Monica City Council will meet to discuss a potential new Labor Peace Agreement (LPA) law that is backed by multimillion dollar corporations based in different states. The goal of LPA is to prevent labor conflicts that could cause a decrease in city revenue. LPA stipulates that all restaurants on city property must enter into a contract that “opens the door to forced unionization of employees”. This would result in labor organizations giving up the right to strike in turn for negotiated provisions that strengthen workers’ rights to organize
The proposed enactment of LPA has caused major backlash and the surfacing of a new Santa Monica community group called Keep Santa Monica Local.
Their major problem with LPA is that it favors big corporations and unions over local businesses. The cost of the LPA would ultimately drive out the small local businesses and corportaize Santa Monica, stripping the city of the very people and businesses that give it its vibrancy and spirit.
LPA would allow big unions to obtain the home addresses and phone numbers of employees without their permission. This is evidently a huge invasion of privacy of workers, as this even led to an incident where an employee was approached by a union worker at her home, reported the Santa Monica Daily Press.
What triggered the possible implementation of LPA is unknown, considering that there has been little to no labor disputes that would suggest Santa Monica needs LPA. All it’s doing is seemingly giving the power to big unions to bully and intimidate employees.
We can’t allow this to pass and in turn push out local businesses that make up the heart of Santa Monica and throw workers to the hands of big unions. If you want to take action join those who are attending the City Council meeting on Tuesday.
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