Posts tagged Los Angeles International Airport
Op-ed: Is anyone in charge of Los Angeles?
August 12, 2025 // LWithin days, the LA Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress — whose $3 million budget comes primarily from Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Association — filed paperwork to put a citizen’s-veto referendum before voters in 2026. (Plummer is among the small businesspeople listed as the measure’s official proponents.) It would take 92,000 signatures to reach the ballot, but just filing the referendum had an immediate impact: delaying implementation of the law’s first planned pay increase on July 1, to $22.50 per hour. Frustrated by the possibility that years of lobbying could be wiped away with a corporate-backed campaign, organized labor launched a counteroffensive. In June, Unite Here Local 11 — which represents 32,000 workers across Southern California hotels, airports and sports arenas — filed a package of four ballot initiatives.
Commentary California’s $20 Minimum Wage Is a Cautionary Tale for Los Angeles’ Olympic-Sized Wage Hike
July 22, 2025 // In a classic case of central planning, lawmakers in Los Angeles passed a bill in May to bring the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 by 2028, while also imposing a new $8.25 per hour mandatory health care contribution. Implementation of that bill is currently on hold as the city clerk reviews the signatures of a referendum petition that would bring the bill to a public vote in June 2026. Los Angeles’ sector-specific wage hike follows on the heels of California’s statewide $20 minimum wage mandate for fast-food workers that went into effect in April 2024. The consequences of that wage hike on the fast-food industry should be a warning sign to Los Angeles, especially as it prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. Crucial to the success of those Olympic games will be the capability of the city’s hotels and its Los Angeles International Airport to serve an estimated 15 million visitors.
LA lost 11K hotel jobs in 2024, new $38.35 minimum wage risks more, group says
June 6, 2025 // According to an April report from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, LA ranks last among major U.S. cities in post-COVID recovery, and with current visitor levels at just 79% of what they were in 2019. A CUF analysis of state data found the city lost 11,000 hotel jobs in 2024 as a result, and warned in a full-page advertisement on Thursday, the day before an anticipated final vote approving the new wage and benefit ordinance, that “this new proposal will kill more jobs and raise costs for visitors.”
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
May 30, 2025 // Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state’s. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
SEIU shuts down Los Angeles for a daylong strike
August 11, 2023 // The strike caused delays in trash collection, parking enforcement, and homeless encampment cleanups, in addition to the closure of public pools and animal shelters. Also, travelers were advised to plan for extra time when traveling to or from the airport. The union’s executive director and president David Green said, “We’re going to shut down the city of Los Angeles.” Green added, “The message we’re sending is that our workers are just fed up. They’ve reached a breaking point. And we need these folks in the city to come back to the table for the good of the city.”
Over 11,000 L.A. workers plan to strike, hoping to ‘shut down’ city
August 8, 2023 // Mayor Karen Bass (D) said Saturday that the city is committed to ensuring a fair contract for its workers. “City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy. They deserve fair contracts and we have been bargaining in good faith with SEIU 721 since January,” Bass said. “The City will always be available to make progress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” Los Angeles International Airport and the Port of Los Angeles did not return requests for comment regarding the possible disruptions to their operations that the strike could cause.
Trader Joe’s staff walkout at Hadley store, local unions join in protest
July 3, 2023 // The union representing up to 15,000 workers employed at 65 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties said that their members are on strike. The union promised whatever action they take would include a peaceful sit-in at Los Angeles International Airport. Contract agreements are unresolved with the remaining hotels, which include the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott LA Live, the Beverly Hilton, Fairmont Miramar, Anaheim Hilton, and Four Seasons Regent Beverly Wilshire.
Tourism workers seek $25 minimum wage before Olympics, World Cup in Los Angeles
June 5, 2023 // Curren Price, a Los Angeles City Council member, has proposed upping the hourly minimum wage for airport and hotel workers in the city to $25 an hour, then raising it $1 each year until 2028, bringing it to $30 an hour. He also proposed more affordable options for health care coverage. Representatives for airlines and hotels spoke against the proposed ordinance at the Economic Development Committee meeting. They said the ordinance would force them to raise prices and some small businesses would have to close, making L.A. a less attractive tourist destination.