After a contentious six-hour meeting, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 in favor of increasing the hourly wage of approximately 23,000 hotel and LAX workers to $30. The $30 minimum wage will go into effect in by July 2028, when the city will host the Summer Olympics.
The $30 minimum wage campaign, also known as the Olympic wage campaign, has been spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11 and the Service Employees International Union. Both unions have been heavily involved with local and statewide lobbying for higher minimum wages in several different industries. Both unions also participated in a three-day hunger strike outside of the Los Angeles City Hall, and held various other public demonstrations to bolster support.
The City Council instructed the city attorney to draft the ordinance to raise the hourly wage as follows:
- $25/hour on February 1, 2025 or the effective date of the ordinance
- $26.25/hour on July 1, 2025
- $28.75/hour on July 1, 2026
- $28.75/hour on July 1, 2027
- $30/hour on July 1, 2028
Employers will also be required to provide a health payment of $8.35/hour in addition to the minimum wage.
Three Councilmembers introduced amendments to the proposal, which each failed in separate 10-5 votes. These amendments were designed to lessen the burden on hotel employers and reduce the health benefit plan.
The Hotel Association of Los Angeles warned that: “The proposed ordinance calls for a dramatic increase in hotel wages within 60 days of adoption. Increasing hourly wages to $24.40 with an additional $8.35 for health benefits would result in a 69% increase in payroll in just two months. No industry can afford that financial uptick in such a short period of time.”
It appears that the City Council is continuing the local and statewide trend of industry-specific regulation, and that the hotel industry is again the target of these regulations.
