FOX 11: LA tourism workers to receive increase in minimum wage

PRESS RELEASE: Los Angeles City Council Votes for Historic Olympic Wage 

Ordinance will increase wage for LAX & hotel workers to $30/hour by 2028, increase access to quality healthcare

Los Angeles: After dozens of tourism workers fasted for three days outside City Hall, the Los Angeles City council voted to move forward the Olympic Wage for tourism workers that would bring the wage to $30 an hour by the time the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028 and ensure workers have access to quality health coverage. The fasting workers are members of SEIU-United Service Workers West and Unite HERE Local 11 who work at LAX and some of LA’s major hotels.

“As a single mother of three who commutes over two hours from Bakersfield to work at LAX’s airline catering company LSG Sky Chef’s, it makes me happy to see this finally move forward . With the $20 I make it’s not nearly enough to help me live in Los Angeles. I am proud that city leaders are taking concrete steps to help better the lives of thousands of working families like mine ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics.”said Lorena Mendez, member of UNITE HERE Local 11 and faster.

“I have been fighting for this update to the Living Wage Ordinance for over 600 days because workers like me who are predominantly Black, brown, and immigrants and make LAX run deserve better. We deserve to be paid a wage we can live on. We deserve access to quality healthcare, so I can treat the COPD I developed from working at and living near LAX. I deserve access to the care my son needs to treat his asthma. Today’s City Council vote is a step in the right direction, demonstrating that when workers fight, workers win,” said Jovan Houston, LAX customer service agent, SEIU-USWW executive board member, and faster.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, said “Hotel and airport workers, the backbone of our thriving tourism industry, have made history. Through their strikes, marches, and even fasting, they won the nation’s highest minimum wage and the first-ever Olympic and Paralympic Wage. This is a critical first step to ensure that mega-events like the Olympics improve the lives of working Angelenos by providing affordable housing and good jobs, rather than simply enriching tourism CEO’s.”

“LAX workers have been fighting for the dignified wages and healthcare benefits that reflect the value of the essential work they do daily to anchor the transportation and tourism industries and will provide as our city prepares to host mega events like the World Cup and Olympics,” said David Huerta, President of SEIU-USWW. “LAX workers — predominantly Black, brown, and immigrant — took on the airlines and corporate special interests and even when faced with years of setbacks, they never gave up. Now, the LA City Council, thanks largely to the leadership of Councilmembers Soto-Martinez and Price and Council President Dawson has taken the righteous step to move the modernization of the Living Wage Ordinance forward, demonstrating that when LA responds to the needs of its workers, it can be a beacon of hope and live up to its name as the City of Angels.”

“Today’s vote is continuing the noble legacy of uplifting working families as the city gets ready to host the World Cup and the Olympics,” said Jessica Durrim Director at LAANE.

The vote marks a significant move forward after tourism workers first presented this ordinance in April 2023. The policy now goes to the City Attorney to draft and come back to the full council for a final vote. Tourism workers in Long Beach, another Olympics and Paralympics host city,  are similarly advocating for an Olympic wage.

WE’RE STILL STANDING

Thank you to everyone who helped in our 2024 campaigns in Arizona. We faced record-breaking heat, dogs, guns, and even wild javalinas to knock on 1.3 million doors and have 250,000 conversations with voters. We took a hit, but we are back up and are ready to fight just as hard once again.
Victor Manuel, cook at the Jamaica Bay Inn, encourages his coworkers to join him and vote UNION YES

Victor Manuel: “Let’s all vote!”

Thelma Urbina, housekeeper at the Jamaica Bay Inn, urges her coworkers to vote UNION YES

Telma Urbina is going to vote YES

Graciela Gomez encourages Jamaica Bay workers

Graciela Gomez: the union is here to support you

UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power Lead Arizona’s Largest Voter Canvass for Harris

Knock on over 1.3 million doors, have over 250,000 conversations with voters

Phoenix, Ariz.–Building on their track record of winning elections cycle after cycle, UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power knew that knocking on doors and having conversations with voters to get out the vote was essential. UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power grew to over 500 canvassers after launching their field operation in August.

 “Worker Power and UNITE HERE Local 11 focused on doing what we do best, connecting face-to-face with voters on top issues that matter to them like the economy, reproductive rights and democracy. I am particularly proud that we talked to over 32,000 voters who did not vote in Arizona in 2020,” said Brendan Walsh, Executive Director of Worker Power. “In our experience, having won Arizona for Biden in 2020, we found that oftentimes these heavily contested races come down to a handful of votes, and we are optimistic that our field program will deliver that key difference again this year.”

Worker Power’s universe of voters consisted of low propensity voters, voters of color, women, young people, and unaffiliated or independent voters, from Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties. Canvassers talked with 54.2% women and 51.6% voters of color to motivate them to vote for Harris, U.S. Senate candidate Ruben Gallego, and Prop 139. By election night we knocked on over 1.3 million doors and had 250,000 conversations with voters.

“As we wait for every vote to be counted, we know that hundreds of cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers, airport and food service workers, once again, left it all out in the field in Arizona to elect a President who will fight for working people. Our members just came off of a year-long contract fight at over 70 hotels and event centers, and won. They brought that same energy and drive to this election. That’s where the difference is made—not on television screens or billboards, but looking people in the eye and asking them what kind of world they want to live in.” said Susan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11 and Board Chair of Worker Power.

In addition to working on the Presidential and U.S. Senate elections, Worker Power and UNITE HERE Local 11 also activated voters to vote down ballot for key swing legislative races, Phoenix city council races, statewide propositions like Prop 139, and Prop 499 in Glendale.

“I had never been involved politically until this year. It was important for me to get out the vote for Harris because as a woman this election is a matter of life or death. I also have a sister and nieces in Texas where, like in Arizona, the rights of women and young girls are on the line. Decades ago women could not vote or own property, and we are not going back,” said Cynthia Jimenez, cook at Sky Harbor International Airport for 12 years and member of UNITE HERE Local 11, originally from Chiapas, Mexico.

UNITE HERE Local 11 and Worker Power were affiliated with UNITE HERE International Union’s national program, which led field programs in seven key battleground states, including Nevada and Pennsylvania. Collectively, UNITE HERE knocked on 4 million doors to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.