The Fair Games Coalition, which is comprised of more than 60 organizations, launch a campaign for a New Deal for our Future to ensure the games benefit working families. Over the next three years, Los Angeles will become the first city to host the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic & Paralympic Games back-to-back, making it the mega-events capital of the world. We are demanding that these mega-events serve our communities and leave a positive legacy. We are calling on LA28 and corporations to negotiate a New Deal for Our Future—or face the possibility of massive protests and strikes on the opening day of the 2028 Olympics.

 

THE OVERPAID CEO TAX TABLES AT THE BILLIONAIRE TAX EVENT WITH BERNIE SANDER AND TOM MORELLO

Together with Fair Games LA, we went to the Wiltern Theater to join Bernie Sanders and Tom Morello for the Billionaire Tax Kickoff  event to talk to people about TAXING GREED TO PAY FOR WHAT WE NEED and collect signatures for The Overpaid CEO Tax Petition!

LA28 Has Been Highjacked by Acolytes of Donald Trump!

LA28 has allowed itself to be highjacked by anti-immigrant, anti-worker acolytes of Donal Trump. You cannot support a machine that attacks workers and kidnaps immigrants and pretend to represent Los Angeles. LA28 can run the Trump Olympics but LA28 cannot run the Los Angeles Olympics!

ICE OUT OF THE MILANO OLYMPICS!

Union members, clergy, and community activists joined outside the LA28 headquarters in DTLA to call for ICE to be out of the Winter Olympics in Milan! Why are ICE agents in Milan? The citizens of Milan definitely don’t want them there. Here in LA the Fair Games Coalition is asking the board of LA28, the organization the City Council subcontracted the LA Olympics and Paralympics Games, to get ICE out of the Winter Olympics and out of the LA Olympics too!

LA TIMES: L.A. unions push new tax on companies with ‘overpaid’ CEOs

The so-called Overpaid CEO Tax initiative was announced at a rally outside Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner featuring union workers holding signs that read “Taxing greed to pay for what we need,” and a cartoon cutout of a boss carrying money bags and puffing a fat cigar.

“It’s high time the rich paid more taxes,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, which represents airport and hotel employees.

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.

 

Workers at Crypto.com Arena Calling on LA28 and IOC to Keep ICE Out During the Olympic Games

As Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympic Games, workers at Crypto.com Arena took action to demand safe, welcoming Olympic venues free from the sorts of heavy-handed and abusive immigration enforcement that we have seen in Los Angeles and elsewhere in recent months. Workers delivered hundreds of petition signatures from their coworkers urging Crypto.com Arena to call on LA28 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to commit to keeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration enforcement agencies out of Olympic venues and events.

“This arena runs because of immigrant workers.” said Marisela Gomez, a Stand Lead at Crypto.com Arena, where she’s worked for 15 years. “The Olympics will only succeed because of immigrant workers. If LA wants to welcome the world, it has to protect the people who make that welcome possible.” 

Fair Games and Immigration Groups Call for Resignation of LA28’s Chairperson Wasserman in Response to Welcoming Trump’s MAGAfication of Board

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.

While several individuals walked by wearing LA28 emblazoned merch, security threatened the peaceful coalition with arrest if they did not leave. Members of LA28 refused to go down to receive the letter.

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 Casey Wasserman, Chairman of LA28, has kowtowed to Trump on security and undermined confidence in the Games’ independence and integrity.

The Fair Games Coalition has called for LA28 to commit to keeping ICE and all other immigration enforcement agencies away from the Games and out of the region. The safety and dignity of immigrant communities must not be compromised.

“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.

FAIR GAMES: A NEW DEAL FOR OUR FUTURE

Los Angeles will become the mega events capital of the world over the next several years.  During 2026 through 2028, our city will host—among other events—the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Such mega events and the massive investments required to make them happen should have a positive impact for the city’s residents, including the workers that make the games possible. But in recent decades, in country after country, global sporting events have failed to produce lasting benefits for host communities. 

TORCHED: What LA’s tourism unions just did

“The ruthless greed of Delta, United, and Marriott was matched only by their arrogance,” said Kurt Petersen, Unite Here Local 11’s co-president. “We thank the people of Los Angeles for standing with us. Together, we will not only defend the Olympic wage — we will ensure that the Olympics and Paralympics lift up our city, not line the pockets of greedy CEOs.”

Tourism Workers Defeat CEOs’ Multi-Million Dollar Campaign to Overturn Olympic Wage

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. 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.”

LAist: LA’s $30 minimum wage boost for tourism workers moves forward after an effort to overturn it fails

“A minimum wage boost for tourism workers in the city of Los Angeles is going into effect after the City Clerk announced Monday that a referendum to overturn it failed to gather enough valid signatures.”

LA TIMES: Bid to repeal L.A.’s $30 hotel minimum wage fails to qualify for the ballot

“The business group looking to repeal a $30 per hour minimum wage for Los Angeles hotel and airport workers failed to secure enough signatures to qualify the proposal for the ballot…”