With the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games over and attention shifted to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, tourism industry workers who could impact whether tourists get a world-class hospitality experience in L.A. are ramping up pressure on the city to increase their minimum wages.
Hotel and airport workers “occupied” a section of the sidewalk at L.A. City Hall, beating drums and tooting blow horns ahead of the Tuesday, Sept. 10, City Council meeting. They set up tents and a clothesline to resemble a homeless encampment in hopes, organizers said, of driving home the message that some workers are one paycheck away from homelessness.
Some participants also addressed the City Council during its meeting to demand what they’re referring to as “Olympic wages.”
Nearly a year-and-a-half since Councilmembers Curren Price and Katy Yaroslavsky introduced a motion in April 2023 to raise tourism workers’ wages. But the council had been waiting for an economic analysis report to be issued before deciding whether to move ahead with the proposal.
That report, released last week by the city’s chief legislative analyst, stated that the proposed minimum wage increases would improve equity for workers and be beneficial to the city, county and neighboring jurisdictions.
The workers belong to the United Service Workers West We represent janitors, security officers, airport service workers, and other property service workers across California.
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