Hotel and airport workers will meet at Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday to announce a campaign to defend the recently approved minimum wage hike, and oppose a referendum petition aimed at overturning these restrictions.
Members of the Rising Coalition of Tourism Workers who lobby for the minimum wage increase will also be holding a press conference Tuesday morning alongside Los Angeles County Labor Federation Yvonne Wheeler along with city council members Hugo Soto Martinez and Isabel Jurado.
The Union is made up of organizations that include Unite Local 11, Services Employing International United-United Service Worker West, Laane, and more.
Room adjuncts, cooks, dishwashers, airline catering and airport workers will gather on the south lawn of city hall to urge Los Angeles voters not to sign petitions led by some business owners. Supporters of the referendum efforts say the ordinance could raise labor costs and force some companies to fire employees or close the tourism industry in the face of challenges.
The recent ordinance passed by the city council will raise the minimum wage for airport hotel workers to $22.50 an hour starting in July, and increase by $2.50 a year over the next three years. Workers will receive healthcare payments of $25 per hour starting July 2026, $27.50 per hour in July 2027, $30 per hour in July 2028, and $8.35 per hour in July 2026, starting July 2026 in time for the Olympics.
“An industry that has already spent more than $1 million to stop workers from earning livable wages rather than paying what they deserve, is expected to spend millions more on this referendum.”
The union claimed that in the last two years since the ordinance was introduced, CEOs of Delta, United, Hilton and Marriott have reached more than $330 million in compensation. The petition receives large amounts of funds from Delta and United, as well as the American Hotels and Accommodations Association.
The union previously led efforts to increase the minimum wage for tourism workers in nearby jurisdictions. In 2016, wages for hotel workers in Santa Monica increased. They increased in West Hollywood in 2021, in Glendale in 2022, and in 2024, voters in Long Beach passed a similar wage hike.
Meanwhile, the office of LA City Clerk announced on May 30 that a coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport has recognized the referendum efforts announced as the Los Angeles Alliance, the Alliance for Tourism, Employment and Progress. The petition was filed two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the ordinance into the law and four days after the city council granted final approval.
The group will need to collect approximately 93,000 signatures from registered voters in Los Angeles until June 30th to qualify for the June 2026 voting action.
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