LA Supervisors Consider Massive $25 Minimum Wage For Hotel, Amusement Park Workers

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced on Tuesday that she will be proposing a $25 minimum wage for both hotel workers and amusement park workers in the unicorporated areas of the county, which would, if passed, give a massive raise from the current minimum wage of $16.90.

Since early July, hotel workers in both Los Angeles County and Orange County have been on strike intermittently. The strike, which has been largely over pay, has affected dozens of hotels in the past weeks. However, so far, the strike has proved to be largely ineffective. The Unite Here union has tried and failed to affect tourism in the city. It was also recently capped by a massive failed attempt to stop a series of Taylor Swift concerts last week.

Other strikes in the County, including the WGA strike, the SAG-AFTRA strike, and the recent one-day LA City worker strike, which had 11,000 people come out to strike across the city on Tuesday, have proven to be far more resolute. The three have also been more media savvy, with the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and SEIU strikes making national news constantly, while Unite Here only making national news once for the aforementioned failed attempt at stopping concerts.

Despite this, Hahn pushed for the $25 minimum wage for hotel and amusement park workers at the Supervisors board meeting on Tuesday. According to the proposed motion, oficially called the Tourism Worker Retention Minimum Wage Ordinance, it would apply to would apply to workers at Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain, as well as workers at hotels with more than 60 rooms. The wage would then go up to $30 an hour by 2028 when the Olympics are to be held in LA.

Hahn noted that the ordinance would allow many workers to only work one job, as well as help assuage poverty, homelessness, and housing needs in the County. Worries over worker retention would also largely go away with a high enough wage.

“A $25 minimum wage, up from the current minimum wage of $16.90, would not make these workers rich, but it would make their lives a little easier and may mean that they don’t need to work multiple jobs just to stay in their homes,” expressed Hahn on Tuesday. “Too many people in our communities are working full-time jobs but they cannot pay their rent. This board has the ability to do something about it, at least for the workers in the unincorporated areas of L.A. County, and I think we should.”

A hotel worker, amusement park work pay hike proposal

Despite gaining some support from fellow Councilmembers, the proposal was immediately chastised by those in the tourism industry. They noted that a $25 hour wage would hurt small business and local government tax revenue, would only affect a small group of workers in the county, and would likely leave to many layoffs.

“Hahn’s ‘copy and paste’ lawmaking is bad public policy,” Hotel Association of Los Angeles President Heather Rozman said on Wednesday. “The board should complete an economic impact analysis, like cities with similar proposals, before moving forward.”

“Maybe the supervisors can pay their county staff a minimum wage of $25 an hour first. It’s disappointing that one special interest is proposing ordinances through the Los Angeles region that would have a devastating impact on small business and local government tax revenue. Instead of focusing on a small percentage of workers, leaders in this region should develop a holistic solution to our affordability crisis that will benefit all.”

Margo Warburton, a potentially affected hotel manager in the County, added, “This is dangerous. If the wage went that high, we would need to make so many cuts to stay afloat. A lot of hotels don’t have the backing of a huge chain or have enough luxury rooms to really have backup with. We don’t. So when we are paying people all that more, it comes from us. And if we’re going in the red, it means that people will need to be laid off to make up for the difference.”

“Hahn is an idiot. We need to see how each affected place will be affected financially first and see what the projected finances and job loss will be. But she obviously doesn’t want to do that and just wants it passed as soon as possible. Do our employees deserve to be paid more? Yes. But we need to make that happen logically and in a way that works for both parties. She just wants to bump up salaries by so much there with a snap of the fingers. That’s insane. We need a gradual plan. Did she even think this through?”

The motion is due to be considered at the upcoming September 12th meeting. If passed, the new ordinance will go into effect by November.