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A ruling by Los Angeles' Bureau of Contract Administration sharply contradicts Mayor Richard Riordan's office on a controversial and hotly disputed wage rule that could apply to thousands of workers at Los Angeles International and Ontario airports.
At issue is whether the city's so-called living wage ordinance, passed by the council last year over Riordan's veto, applies to the airlines with leases at the two facilities.
The carriers have argued that they are beyond the ordinance's reach, and their refusal to knuckle under to the city rule has meant that thousands of workers, including airport security guards and janitors, are being paid the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour rather than $7.25 with benefits or $8.50 without them, as required by the living wage ordinance.
While working behind the scenes to win the airlines' voluntary compliance with the law, Riordan administration officials have maintained that the statute should not be imposed on the carriers.
The officials have received some support from the city attorney's office, which initially questioned the ordinance's applicability to certain city departments, such as the airport, and lately has issued an opinion that the living wage law needs to be made clearer in some areas.
Now, however, the contract bureau has sided with advocates of the ordinance and against the mayor.
"Custodial, building maintenance and security services provided under the Terminal Lease Agreement are subject to the provisions of the {living wage ordinance}," C. Bernard Gilpin, director of the bureau, wrote to Airport Director John J. Driscoll. "Please include the required . . . compliance language...