Hotel and airport employees are scheduled to gather at Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday. They plan to launch a campaign supporting a newly approved hike in the minimum wage. Additionally, they intend to 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 along with City Council representatives Hugo Soto-Martinez and Ysabel Jurado, as well as Yvonne Wheeler from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The coalition comprises groups such as Unite Here Local 11, Service Employees International Union – United Service Workers West, and LAANE, along with several others.
Housekeepers, chefs, dishwashers, airline caterers, and airport staff members plan to assemble on the south lawn of City Hall. They aim to encourage Los Angeles voters to avoid signing a petition initiated by certain business proprietors. Supporters of this referendum argue that implementing the ordinance would increase operational expenses for businesses, potentially leading to layoffs or closures within an already struggling tourism sector.
The recently approved City Council ordinance aims to increase the minimum wage for airport hotel employees to $22.50 per hour starting in July, with subsequent yearly hikes of $2.50 each until 2026. From July 2026 onwards, wages will be set at $25 an hour; then rise to $27.50 hourly in July 2027 and reach $30 an hour by July 2028—just before the Olympic Games. Additionally, these workers will get a fresh healthcare stipend of $8.35 every hour, effective from July 2026.
According to a statement released by Unite Here Local 11—the union for 32,000 hospitality employees across Southern California and Arizona—it’s anticipated that an industry, having already invested over $1 million to prevent fair wages for workers, will have to allocate additional millions of dollars toward this ballot measure instead of compensating staff appropriately.
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 collectively amassed more than $330 million in compensation. The petition has been substantially 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 pay 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 voting.
Meanwhile, the L.A. City Clerk’s Office announced on May 30 that it certified the referendum effort launched by a coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport known as the Los Angeles Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress. The petition was filed two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the ordinance into law and four days after the City Council gave its final approval.
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.
Phil Singer, a spokesperson for the coalition, informed the Los Angeles Times that the wage hike “jeopardizes the revenue that Los Angeles critically requires.”
Small enterprises may have to close, employees could lose their positions, and the financial repercussions would spread throughout the city,” Singer informed The Times. “We’re advocating for everything: the prosperity of our city, the employment that supports our neighborhoods, and the millions of visitors served annually by the tourism sector.
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