The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved an increase in the amount of hourly wages airport contractors who don’t provide health insurance must pay workers.

The unanimous vote means that as of Jan. 1, contractors at Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario International Airport and Van Nuys Airport that don’t offer their employees health insurance will have to pay them $14.80 an hour, an increase of $3.25. Contractors that do offer health insurance will pay the basic living wage of $10.30 an hour.

There are about 5,000 airport workers covered by the living wage ordinance; the increase will affect those whose employers don’t provide health insurance.

Currently, there is only a $1.25 an hour differential between the pay scales for employees at companies that don’t offer health insurance and employees at companies with health insurance. A report last year from the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a union-allied group that advocates for living wages, showed that most airport contractors found it cheaper to pay the $1.25 an hour extra rather than provide health insurance for their employees.

Speaking to her colleagues, Councilwoman Janice Hahn on Wednesday said that increasing the healthcare component of the city’s living wage law was necessary to give workers a chance to obtain health care benefits.

“Our message to contractors is that you either provide health care or you can opt out and pay the cash benefit to your employees so they can afford to buy some health care on their own,” Hahn said.

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, which had vigorously fought the original living wage law that passed in 1997, took a moderate stance on the increase. Speaking before the council on Wednesday, the chamber’s legislative director, Sam Garrison, said the business group supported increased access to quality health care but had some concerns about what guidelines the city would use to measure quality health care.

Only one councilmember, Greig Smith, spoke out against the proposal, saying the timing was bad. “Right now, businesses are suffering through the worst recession in modern city history. And now, you want to put another burden on business, what essentially amounts to a massive increase in wages.”

Hahn responded, “I know people will say this is a tough time to do this, that the economy is bad But to those people, it’s never the right time for employers to add benefits.”

Greig voted for the proposal, which now goes to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his expected signature.

Hahn agreed to address some points raised by Councilman Bernard Parks. The measure was amended to order city staff to come back with a report in the next few months on guidelines for what constitutes “quality health care coverage.”

Also, city staff workers must report back on the impact the measure could have on some airport concessionaires with terms in their leases capping the price they can charge for their products at a certain percentage above “street” prices.