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, city officials said Monday.
The L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress had been hoping to persuade voters to repeal the wage ordinance approved by the City Council four months ago. The referendum needed about 93,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot but fell short by about 9,000, according to a statement from interim City Clerk Petty Santos.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, a former organizer with the union that represents hotel workers, hailed the result.
“This outcome sends a clear message to corporate interests in LA and across the country: working people can fight and win, no matter how much money or misinformation is used to stop us,” he said in a statement.
The council voted in May to approve a series of yearly wage increases for hotel employees and workers at Los Angeles International Airport, following a two-year campaign by labor organizers.
Under the ordinance, the hourly minimum wage for those workers would increase to $22.50 in July, then $25 in July 2026, $27.50 in July 2027 and $30 in July 2028, right before the Olympic Games in L.A. But once opponents turned in their signatures, the measure was placed on hold.
The tourism alliance, which received major financial backing from Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Backers of the minimum wage law, who billed themselves as the Defend The Wage LA Coalition, called Monday’s announcement “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.”
“Tourism workers demand airlines and hotels Pay Up Now!” the group said in a statement.
Supporters of the $30 minimum wage say it will deliver a major financial boost to tourism workers who have been struggling to keep up with the cost of housing, food and other essentials. Opponents warned it would result in tourism industry layoffs — and a halt to the construction of new hotels in L.A.
Passage of the ordinance was a huge victory for Unite Here Local 11 and Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, which represent hotel and airport workers, respectively. Both groups waged a vigorous campaign to convince voters who regretted signing the business group’s petition to later withdraw their names.
Unite Here also filed a complaint with city and state officials alleging that petition circulators had made false statements and misrepresentations to convince voters to support the measure.
Meanwhile, the group that fought the minimum wage ordinance — backed by airlines and representatives of the hospitality industry — asked L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman to launch an investigation into whether opponents of the referendum “committed pervasive fraud and illegal conduct” while working to peel away voter support.
Over the last few months, the battle over the $30 minimum wage has triggered an all-out ballot measure war between organized labor and business groups.
Weeks after the tourism alliance filed its referendum paperwork, Unite Here submitted a quartet of ballot proposals that would place new regulations on businesses. One would require voter approval of a wide range of real estate projects, while another would hike the minimum wage for every worker in L.A. to $30 by 2028.
Soon afterward, business leaders filed paperwork for another ballot measure — this one to repeal the city’s business tax. Such a move would strip about $800 million from the city’s general fund budget, which pays for police officers, firefighters and other basic services.
Mayor Karen Bass and other city leaders spoke out against that proposal, saying it would result in deep cuts to public safety services.
