PRESS RELEASE: Fair Games Coalition Launches Overpaid CEO Tax to Fund Housing and Sidewalk Repairs Ahead of LA 2028
Los Angeles: Outside the Tesla Diner in Hollywood, the Fair Games Coalition, comprised of community leaders, labor organizations, and advocates, announced the launch of the Overpaid CEO Tax Initiative, a people-powered ballot measure to ensure that corporations that contribute to extreme wealth inequality pay their fare share so that working families in Los Angeles can thrive.
Ahead of the Olympic & Paralympic Games in 2028, the initiative would progressively tax large corporations whose CEOs earn more than 50 times their median worker in Los Angeles, generating more than half a billion per year to reinvest directly into Los Angeles communities.
Los Angeles is one of the least affordable cities in the world. Housing costs continue to soar, grocery prices are skyrocketing, and critical neighborhood infrastructure like streets and sidewalks remain in disrepair. At the same time, compensation for corporate executives has reached staggering levels — in 2024, CEOs at the nation’s largest companies earned an average of 281 times more than their typical worker.
The Overpaid CEO Tax Initiative would ensure corporations that overpay executives while underpaying workers contribute their fair share, with the anticipated half-billion dollar revenue allocated as follows:
- $350 Million annually to build tens of thousands of housing units for working people such as teachers, grocery workers, firefighters, and hotel room attendants.
- $100 Million to repair over 100 miles of sidewalks every year.
- $25 Million for after-school programs like LA’s Best, serving over 12,000 students each year and giving working families safe, high quality care for their kids.
- $25 Million to support 25 grocery stores annually bringing healthy food choices into areas with no decent options.
- The Fair Games Coalition outlined the initiative’s path to the November 2026 ballot and called on organizations and residents to join a broad coalition to collect signatures and mobilize voters.
“This matters now more than ever, as Los Angeles prepares to host the Olympics and Paralympics. A fair Olympics requires a fair economy — and the Overpaid CEO Tax is part of that deal. As the city gets ready to host these mega events and forces like Airbnb, Delta and the American Hotel and Lodging Association try to control the wealth, this tax will even the playing field for the working families of this city,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11.
Lisandro Preza, member of UNITE HERE Local 11 who works as a cashier at LAX for a company called Paradies Lagardère said, “This Overpaid CEO tax will be a lifeline for so many angelenos like myself. To stay housed, I have to count every penny. If I make one mistake, I have to ask my family for money just to survive. That stress makes my health worse, trapping me in a cycle that feels impossible to escape. I am one emergency away from homelessness. I can’t cover emergencies, I can’t save, and I can’t even imagine a vacation or a stable future.”
“Our streets are in need of repair. Our sidewalks are crumbling. We see the same neighborhoods left behind again and again. The Overpaid CEO Tax will fund the city to build, maintain, repair, and make desperately necessary infrastructure improvements, including improving public streets, protecting tree canopy, and repairing sidewalks. Our members know first hand how crucial and necessary these repairs are, and we are ready to get this initiative on the ballot,” said Raymond Meza, of SEIU 721 the largest public sector union in Southern California, representing over 100,000 workers, including in street services.
“UFCW Local 770 represents more than 27,000 workers across healthcare, grocery, food processing, and cannabis, and our members support this initiative because we want a Los Angeles that works for everyone. Since 1978, CEO pay has exploded while worker pay has barely moved, creating the extreme inequality we see today. In one of the nation’s largest food-producing states, no neighborhood should be a food desert. The Overpaid CEO Tax is about finding a solution to extreme income inequality, fixing a broken system, and making sure working families can put fresh, healthy food on the table.” – Kathy Finn, President, UFCW Local 770
“With the housing crisis deepening and inequality growing, we must prepare for 2028 by making sure corporations and the wealthiest pay what they owe instead of pushing the costs onto working families. While CEOs profit from underpaying workers, too many Angelenos are struggling to make ends meet in their own neighborhoods. The Overpaid CEO Tax Initiative would help ensure that the people who live, work, and raise families here, who do not treat this city as a playground, get the support and services our communities need to truly thrive.” – Cecily Myart-Cruz, President of UTLA, which represents 35,000 public educators.
Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez said “This ballot initiative is not a political issue. It is a moral and spiritual imperative for us to build the Beloved Community – where our neighbors can live safely in their homes, our streets are beautifully repaired, our children have adequate support to succeed in school, and every family has access to fresh food.”
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The Fair Games Coalition is composed of more than 75 organizations including unions, community groups, housing advocates, and immigration leaders.
Los Angeles, CA: Dozens of members of the Fair Games coalition—unions, community organizations, faith leaders, housing advocates, and immigration groups like UNITE HERE Local 11, CARECEN, NDLON, CLUE, LAANE, UFCW 770, UTLA and others—gathered to deliver a letter signed by hundreds and then hold a press conference outside of LA28’s Los Angeles offices.
The coalition’s demand for Wasserman to resign came after mid November’s announcement that the LA28 Organizing Committee has “gone MAGA” by appointing Kevin McCarthy, Diane Hendricks, Reince Priebus, Patrick Dumont, and Ken Moelis to its governing board. The coalition denounced the ways in which 
“LA28 can run the Trump Olympics. But LA28 cannot run the Los Angeles Olympics. If Casey Wasserman cannot see the difference and thinks appointing anti-union, anti-immigrant, pro-Trump billionaires is acceptable, then Casey Wasserman must resign — immediately,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, a member of Fair Games Coalition.
Rev. Andy Schweibert of Immanuel Presbyterian and member of Fair Games Coalition said, “We have seen the impact that this administration’s tactics to separate immigrant families and stoke fear has had on our members and families in our community. Our nation is facing a moral crisis. The Olympic and Paralympic games should lift all our communities, not create fear and uncertainty by aligning with federal forces who are endangering the safety of our community. LA28 and IOC must demand the immediate removal of ICE from Los Angeles and create a strong wall between the games and the administration’s oversight.”
Jose Madera of National Day Laborer Network said “ICE has detained thousands of community members in LA over the past few months. But to this day, LA28 has not publicly taken a stand in defence of LA’s immigrant communities. An Olympics and Paralympics security plan that gives control to a federal administration that is already attacking immigrants in our city and across the nation puts our entire community at risk.”
“We are demanding LA28 stand by and protect all workers and the rights of immigrants. We stand in solidarity with our community to demand protections for each other and all working-class Angelenos.” said Evelyn Hernandez, of CARECEN LA, TPS residency Coordinator.
Los Angeles, CA: On Tuesday, over a hundred hotel room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, server, airline catering workers and airport workers plan to rally outside Los Angeles City Hall and celebrate the Olympic wage going into effect after the 
“Tourism workers demand airlines and hotels Pay Up Now! In a historic victory over some of the world’s largest corporations who spent over $3 million in a campaign that deceived Angelenos, workers mobilized and defeated the CEOs’ campaign to lower wages. The Olympic Wage must be implemented immediately. After years of speaking up at City Council meetings, protesting at City Hall and LAX, and even fasting for three days before a Council vote, workers have yet again triumphed over corporate interests. Elected officials must do right by the workers who will make mega-events like the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics happen and stand strong against corporations who seek to undermine workers and Angelenos who have again supported raising wages.”
During the signature-gathering process, the campaign funded by airlines and hotels were accused of misleading voters by claiming the referendum petition would increase wages, when it would actually overturn a recently-enacted minimum wage increase. Authorities were presented with extensive documentation of these and other deceptive practices. In some cases, signature gatherers were themselves deceived by the initiative organizers into believing the petition was to raise the minimum wage.
Additionally, volunteers accused signature gatherers of violence against canvassers seeking to educate the public about the actual impact of the referendum and to keep the Olympic Wage intact. The referendum signature gatherers even set up shop in Skid Row, allegedly paying cash to unhoused people to register to vote and sign the referendum petition. A record of more than 120,000 Angelenos submitted forms to revoke their signatures on the referendum petition when they learned the petition would actually upend the Olympic Wage.
Winning the Olympic wage was the first step towards building a more equitable Games that benefits working people. UNITE HERE Local 11, which leads the Fair Games coalition with LAANE and another 60 plus organizations, last month launched a vision calling on LA 28, IOC, corporate CEOs, and elected leaders for a New Deal for Our Future. 
Los Angeles, CA: Hundreds of hospitality workers, teachers, grocery store workers, housing groups and other allies gathered at the gates of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the site of the opening ceremonies of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Fair Games Coalition will launch a campaign for a New Deal for our Future to ensure the games benefit working families. The Fair Games Coalition of more than 60 organizations including unions such as UNITE HERE Local 11, UTLA, NUHW, UFCW Local 770, United Farm Workers, and community groups including LAANE, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Immaculate Heart Community, KIWA, ACCE, and more demand that t
Today the coalition called on LA28 and corporations to invest in a New Deal for Our Future—or face the possibility of massive protests and strikes on the opening day of the 2028 Olympics.
Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11 said, “The Games are not fleeting spectacles. They shape politics, the economy, and policing for decades. We believe the Games present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our city. Teachers. Grocery clerks. Room attendants. Athletes. Cooks. Servers. Engineers. Farmworkers. Renters. Faith communities – we make this city run! And we are standing as one. We know how to fight. And we know how to win. So hear us now. If LA28 and the corporations that will profit from the Games refuse to change course, we will take this fight to the streets – and to the Games. Because these Games will either lift up our city — or we will shut them down!”
The campaign launch came amid growing concerns over the Games. Over the last several months, Delta Airlines – a founding sponsor of LA28 – joined the American Hotel and Lodging Association in funding a misleading referendum campaign to try to overturn the recently enacted $30 an hour Olympic Wage for tourism workers. The Olympic Wage law–which, remarkably, has been attacked by the Olympics own leading sponsor–now stands as the only major legacy effort for the Games. Among other shortcomings in plans for the Games, Wasserman abandoned promises to build an Olympic Village that would transition to affordable housing, as was done in Paris. Airbnb, another Olympics corporate sponsor, was recently revealed as the backer for a misleading “
Graciela Gomez, a housekeeper at Hotel June and member of UNITE HERE Local 11 said, “As a mother to a 44 year old adult son with schizophrenia, it is increasingly difficult for me to make ends meet and stay housed in Inglewood. I have seen how companies like Airbnb have tried to take over our city. As part of the Fair Games we demand a ban on airbnb and other short term rentals. Inglewood is not for sale!”
Victor Sanchez, Executive Director of LAANE, “Today, we launched a bold vision for the 2028 Games: Join us. Let’s fight for our future. Let’s fight for our democracy. Together, we can hold LA28 and the IOC accountable. Let’s beat back the extractive cash grab for billionaires and let’s win material benefits and protections for working Angelenos.”
On May 14, following more than two years of deliberations, the Los Angeles City Council enacted, by a 12-3 margin, an ordinance to increase the wages and health benefits provided to hotel and airport workers in the City of Los Angeles. The “L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress” launched an effort to overturn the minimum wage increase through a referendum. This Alliance has until June 30 to gather at least 92,998 valid signatures from registered voters in Los Angeles to qualify the measure for the June 2026 ballot.
