When workers earn a living wage, the entire community benefits, says Jorge Sanchez, a Long Beach, Calif., hotel worker who is part of a coalition of workers, community activists and small business owners working to pass a living wage ordinance in the city.    

With a living wage, we can support small businesses and we can spend more in the community. Small businesses are the backbone of the community and if we have more money, we can support them.

Measure N, which won more than 30,000 signatures to get on the November ballot, would require the city’s 16 hotels with more than 100 rooms to pay workers a living wage of $13 an hour and also provide them with five-paid sick days a year. It would be a pay boost for about 2,000 Long Beach hotel workers. Says Romeo Trinidad:  

Rent in Long Beach is really expensive. My salary is very low. The pay in the hotels in Long Beach is very poor. If I was paid a living wage and had a little extra money in my pocket, I would rent a bigger home so my daughter doesn't have to sleep in the living room anymore and she can have her own room.

About 140 small business owners have endorsed the measure that is estimated to put about $7 million into the local economy. During a recent “Shop Hop,” along the popular shopping area Fourth Street Retro Row, workers talked to small business owners about the living wage measure (see video and photo). Chris Giaco, co-owner of a vintage clothing store, says:

People should be paid a fair wage. It’s a piece of a larger economic puzzle. To get any economy going, people need a little more money in their pockets.  

While measure N is popular among small business owners, the hotels led by Hyatt have mounted an expensive campaign to defeat the living wage measure. Campaign filings show Hyatt has poured more than $135,000 into the campaign to stop Measure N. While it fights paying Long Beach workers a living wage, Hyatt has received about $76 million in direct subsidies from Long Beach taxpayers over the years.

José Landino says he has a special reason for working so hard to pass Measure N.  

I'm buying a toy xylophone for my granddaughter so she can start learning music. That's why we're fighting for a living wage, so we can have a little extra money to spend on our grandchildren.

You can follow and "like" the Long Beach living wage campaign on its Yes on Measure N Facebook page.