Labor unions and city leaders ask to protect LA’s Olympic wage

A coalition of hotels and airlines is attempting to overturn an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028, putting thousands of workers in the tourism and hospitality sector—including room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, airline caterers and airport workers—in danger of losing their jobs.

Known as the "Olympic Wage,” which has been approved by L.A.’s City Council and Mayor Karen Bass, it aims to ensure fair pay for essential workers in the tourism sector in light of the Olympic Games coming to the city in 2028. But a coalition, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress and supported by companies such as Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel and Lodging Association, looks to halt the measure. 

The coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport hopes city voters will repeal the measure, but they will first have to gather 93,000 signatures in order to get the minimum wage measure on the ballot in time for the upcoming election. 

On Tuesday, dozens of LAX workers, social justice groups, city leaders and labor unions gathered to denounce the coalition's actions and ask city residents not to sign any of their petitions, claiming that workers deserve a fair, livable and equitable wage. 

Maria Torres, who works for a food company that supplies food to international airlines and LAX, stated that obtaining a minimum wage of $30 per hour by 2028 would relieve her and her family of many financial constraints, particularly those related to living in Los Angeles.

As the head of household, she not only supports her family here in the United States but also her family back in her home country. “I have family in Honduras. At times, it’s on me to help them out economically. An honest, livable wage will help me help them,” she told CALÓ News. 

Numerous city council members, including Curren Price (CD-9), Hugo Soto-Martinez (CD-13) and Enisses Hernandez (CD-1), were also present at this week's rally in City Hall, denouncing the coalition's petition.

“Our workers are not disposable,” Price, who introduced the Olympic Wage proposal two years ago alongside Soto-Martinez and four other council members, said. 

Eunisses talked about the $30 per hour wage by 2028 for workers, which she called the “bare  minimum for surviving in this expensive city.” 

“It is not radical; it is not luxury; it is not a stretch,” she said. “They claim that a living wage is going to hurt the city. No, what is hurting the city is unchecked corporate greed.”

She added that because members of the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress were unsuccessful at stopping the wage ordinance at City Hall, the corporations are now “trying to buy the ballot.” 

The combined compensation of the chief executive officers of Delta, United, Hilton and Marriott has surpassed $330 million since the ordinance was introduced, according to Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, the union that represents 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona. 

“These corporations can afford higher wages,” he told CALÓ News. “[Instead,] they are going around spending millions [of dollars] to take this away from workers; [this] is obscene and upsetting and we think Angelenos will see through it.”

Petersen said Unite Here Local 11, along with other labor unions, including Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), has heard members of the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress coalition are stationed outside of grocery stores, malls and other heavily populated areas, trying to get community members to sign their petition. 

Peterson said many of the people he has organized have expressed that they are considering or are currently planning to move to other states because they cannot afford to live in L.A. 

“Are we going to have our neighborhoods torn apart when workers do not make enough? Already, people are doubling up, moving to [other cities]. We need the Olympics where workers can live near where they work,” he said. 

Under L.A.’s Olympic Wage ordinance, the minimum wage for airport and hotel workers will increase incrementally. It is set to rise to $22.50 an hour in July 2025, followed by annual increases of $2.50 each July, until it reaches $30 an hour by July 2028. 

“If the Olympics are coming to the city, the workers who are going to be dealing with all the different tourists should also benefit from that worldwide event. They should be making a living wage,” Soto-Martinez told CALÓ News.