Hotel and airport workers in Los Angeles could see their minimum wage increase to $25 per hour this year – an amount that would increase each of the next five years until reaching $30 per hour in 2028 – if the City Council adopts a proposal introduced Wednesday, April 12.
The motion introduced by Councilmembers Curren Price and Katy Yaroslavsky would increase the minimum hourly wage of these workers to $25 by the end of 2023, and another $1 per hour each year through 2028. The minimum now is $18.86 per hour for L.A. hotel workers, and $18.04 for LAX employees.
If the council adopts the proposal, L.A. would be the first city in the U.S. with a $25 minimum wage mandate, Price said.
The proposed policy would apply to hotels or motels with at least 60 rooms and workers at airports operated by Los Angeles World Airports, which runs LAX and Van Nuys Airport, according to Price’s office.
“We want to be fair. We think it’s time that workers receive more pay. We’re looking at $25 an hour, and we’ll see where that goes,” Price said ahead of Wednesday’s council meeting, noting that he planned to get input from labor unions and the business community.
About 100 tourism employees represented by SEIU United Service Workers West and UNITE HERE Local 11, as well as representatives from the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, joined Price and other councilmembers at a press conference outside City Hall to announce the launch of what they’re calling the Tourism Workers Rising campaign.
Campaign organizers say that as L.A. gears up to host the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028, it’s important to ensure that the wages of those who make the city’s “world-class” tourism economy possible are fairly compensated. The proposed increases would impact more than 36,000 workers, they say.
The airline industry got billions of dollars in government assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic and secured billions to support airport capital improvements…
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