Labor and business leaders in Los Angeles have found something big to agree on: They are promoting several major public works bonds on Tuesday's state ballot.
The alliance between the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce seeks, on one hand, more jobs in the construction of roads, housing and schools, and, on the other, more opportunities for companies that stand to reap a bonanza from the building boom.
Beyond these obvious upsides, however, lie deeper and more lasting opportunities for these frequent adversaries.
On Wednesday, business executives and labor organizers who more often represent divergent interests appeared together at a downtown news conference to underscore their unified support for the bond measures, Propositions 1A through 1E.
"If you're looking at the long-term future of your community, you have to find ways to encourage business investment," said Gary Toebben, the chamber's president and chief executive. "These days you have to do everything that you can."
Toebben stood with county labor chief Maria Elena Durazo at the construction site of L.A. Live, a $2.5-billion sports and entertainment hub being built by union workers next to Staples Center and slated to have apartments and condos, a hotel and condo tower, a live performance theater, broadcast facilities, a multi-screen movie theater, restaurants and clubs.
Durazo said the bonds would help create "good middle-class jobs, and that's what we need in Los Angeles."
There is another reason the bonds are favored by business and labor: They tackle quality-of-life issues, such as reducing gridlock and building schools, that translate into a better business climate and a higher standard of living for workers.
Such labor-business solidarity occurs from time to time, particularly around public works projects that can benefit both sides. But the partnerships are often short-lived as the drive for profit collides with wages and working conditions.
In fact, even as local leaders voice unity over the state bonds, they are fighting -- or preparing to do so -- in other spheres. Durazo, for example, supports a contentious effort to raise wages for workers at hotels along Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport.
Later this month, the Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to consider extending the city's living-wage law to the hotel workers -- a step opposed by business leaders, who believe that the higher-pay requirement should apply only to contractors who do business directly with City Hall.
