Hotel and airport employees are set to gather at Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday to launch a campaign supporting a newly approved hike in the minimum wage. They will also speak out against a referendum effort aimed at reversing these new rules.
The Tourism Workers Rising Coalition, who advocated for raising the minimum wage, will hold a press conference on Tuesday morning together with City Council members Hugo Soto-Martinez and Ysabel Jurado, along with Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The coalition is made up of organizations including Unite Here Local 11, Services Employees International United-United Service Workers West and LAANE, among others.
Housekeeping staff, chefs, dishwashers, airline caterers, and airport personnel plan to convene on the south lawn of City Hall. Their aim is to encourage Los Angeles voters to avoid signing a petition initiated by certain business proprietors. The supporters of this referendum argue that the proposed ordinance would increase operational expenses for labor, potentially leading some enterprises to reduce their workforce or close entirely amid difficulties within the tourism sector.
The recently approved ordinance by the City Council aims to increase the minimum wage for hotel employees at airports to $22.50 per hour starting in July, with subsequent yearly hikes of $2.50 each year over a span of three years. By July 2026, these wages will rise to $25 an hour, then to $27.50 an hour in July 2027, and finally reaching $30 an hour come July 2028—just before the Olympic Games commence. Additionally, workers will get a fresh healthcare stipend set at $8.35 hourly, effective from July 2026 onward.
According to a statement from Unite Here Local 11, the union for 32,000 hospitality employees in Southern California and Arizona, “Instead of compensating workers fairly, an industry that has already invested over $1 million to prevent them from receiving a decent salary will likely have to allocate additional millions towards this ballot measure.”
The union contended that during the past two years following the introduction of the ordinance, the CEOs of Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Hilton, and Marriott have collectively earned more than $330 million in compensation. The petition has been significantly financed by both Delta and United, along with the support of the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Previously, the union spearheaded initiatives to boost the minimum wage for employees in the tourism sector within neighboring areas. In 2016, hotel staff saw their wages rise in Santa Monica; this was followed by increases in West Hollywood in 2021 and in Glendale in 2022. The union reports that in 2024, residents of Long Beach approved a comparable hike in the minimum wage through voter approval.
On May 30, the L.A. City Clerk’s Office confirmed the referendum initiated by an alliance comprising various aviation entities such as airlines, hotels, and concessions businesses at Los Angeles International Airport—the group called itself the Los Angeles Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress. This action came just two days following Mayor Karen Bass signing off on the ordinance, with city council’s ultimate endorsement occurring only four days prior.
The team must secure approximately 93,000 signatures from registered voters in Los Angeles by June 30 to ensure the measure appears on the June 2026 ballot.
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