Photo © Gerry Boughan | Dreamstime.com
A hospitality pay hike in Los Angeles, colloquially known as “the Olympic wage,” has survived a last-minute countermeasure. This came in the form of a referendum to overturn the wage; it was sponsored by two airlines and a hotel group.
The law concerning the raise that was passed near the beginning of the summer.
According to Hotel Investment Today, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder confirmed that the referendum to delay the city’s Olympic Wage Ordinance fell short of the required valid signatures.
The ordinance will now take effect, raising hotel worker wages from $22.50 in 2025 to $25 in 2026, $27.50 in 2027, and $30 in 2028. A mandatory healthcare benefits payment will also begin in 2026.
Los Angeles City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, who sponsored the ordinance, told reporters, "This outcome sends a clear message to corporate interests in L.A. and across the country: working people can fight and win, no matter how much money or misinformation is used to stop us."
In a joint statement, the labor groups called the result a "historic victory over some of the world's largest corporations."
And as might be imagined, the hospitality sector’s reaction is not one of enthusiasm.
“Tens of thousands of Los Angeles voters agreed that the economic toll of the ordinance will extend far beyond the hospitality sector,” American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) President and CEO Rosanna Maietta told Hotel Investment Today. “Today’s decision denies Angelenos the opportunity to voice their opposition to this flawed proposal. It’s clear that the ordinance will jeopardize jobs, push hotels to the brink of closure, severely cut tax revenue the city desperately needs, and leave the city grossly unprepared for the 2028 Olympic Games.”
Opponents also predicted the higher wage would result in smaller staffs to assist hotel guests, which would lead to a negative experience.
Hotel Dive noted that the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, a coalition of tourism industry players including hotel associations, filed the petition in June with enough signatures to temporarily suspend the Olympic Wage’s enforcement. Now that the signatures have been deemed insufficient, the ordinance, No. 188610, will go into effect, a Unite Here Local 11 spokesperson told reporters.
The opposing faction is now pressuring L.A. Mayor Karen Bass to broker a different solution but the workers have dug in their heels.
“We won this, and it’s not fair that these companies are now just trying to take it [away],” Maria Rubio, a union worker at Flying Food Group, told Hotel Dive in July.
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