Latest news with #L.A.AllianceforTourism
Politico
5 days ago
- Business
- Politico
LA businesses open new front in battle with unions, target receipts tax
Los Angeles is one of only a handful of California cities, including San Francisco and Beverly Hills, to have a gross receipts tax on its books. The rate businesses pay varies by sector. The initiative is the latest salvo in a monthslong battle between business and labor that has focused on the city's minimum wage. In late May, the Los Angeles City Council approved a union-backed law to raise the minimum wage for tourism industry workers to $30 per hour by 2028, when Los Angeles is scheduled to host the Olympics. Within days of that law being signed, a coalition of airline and hospitality industry companies filed a referendum to repeal the law. The L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, backed by Delta and United Airlines as well as the American Hotel and Lodging Association, filed signatures late last month and is now waiting for word from the city clerk's office about whether it has qualified for the ballot. Meanwhile, Unite Here Local 11, which represents many of the hospitality workers who stand to benefit from the new minimum wage law, went on offense against the business interests behind the referendum. The group filed four initiative proposals last month: One would raise the minimum wage for all workers in the city to $30 per hour by July 2028, while others would require a public vote on the construction of large hotels, significant hotel expansions and 'event centers' like sports stadiums and impose new taxes and penalties on companies whose CEOs are paid more than 100 times what their median employee receives. Backers of the gross receipts tax repeal measure, who include leaders of local chambers of commerce and other business organizations, see it as a way to push back against the new minimum wage law and Unite Here's initiative proposals, which business leaders say will hobble economic activity at a pivotal time. The new minimum wage 'has an impact on every business,' said Stuart Waldman, one of the initiative's proponents and president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. 'Businesses are leaving in droves,' he added. 'They get to see what the cost is in Burbank. They get to see what the cost is in Santa Clarita. They get to see what the cost for doing business is in Texas. Not everyone can move out of California, but everyone can move out of L.A.' After the city clerk approves the initiative for circulation, the campaign will need to gather approximately 140,000 signatures within 120 days. The initiative could appear on the ballot as early as June 2026.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028. The group, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, is hoping to persuade voters to repeal the ordinance. But first, the alliance would need to gather about 93,000 signatures within 30 days to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election. Phil Singer, a spokesperson for the alliance, said the wage increase "threatens revenue Los Angeles urgently needs" — and its standing as the host of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. "Small businesses will be forced to shut down, workers will lose their jobs, and the economic fallout will stretch across the city," Singer said in an email. "We're fighting for all of it: the city's future, the jobs that sustain our communities, and the millions of guests the tourism industry proudly serves year after year." The new ballot measure campaign comes just two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the minimum wage legislation into law. The wage ordinance has been hotly opposed by an array of L.A. business organizations, which argue that it increases wages in the tourism industry too much and too quickly. However, it was welcomed by unions representing hotel and airport employees, which have supported many of the politicians who backed the measure. The alliance's campaign committee has received major funding from Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., Singer said. The group's petition, submitted to the city clerk's office, was signed by five businesspeople, including Greg Plummer, operator of an LAX concession company; Mark Beccaria, a partner with the Hotel Angeleno on L.A.'s Westside; and Alec Mesropian, advocacy manager with the organization known as BizFed. The alliance is targeting a law that's slated to push the hourly minimum wage to $22.50 on July 1 for housekeepers, parking attendants and hotel restaurant workers, as well as LAX skycaps, baggage handlers and concession employees. The wage would jump to $25 in 2026 and $27.50 in 2027. The wage increase was spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11, the hotel and restaurant worker union, and by Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, which represents private-sector airport workers. Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, called the business group's proposal "shameful" and promised his union's members would go "toe to toe out on the streets" with the alliance's signature gatherers. "The hotel industry's greed is limitless," Petersen said. "They would rather spend millions getting them to sign this petition than pay their workers enough to live in Los Angeles. It's shameful, but we're confident that Angelenos will see through their deceptions and stand with workers." Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state's. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Backers of the airport and hotel minimum wage hikes say they will help some of the region's lowest paid workers cover the rising cost of rent and food, while also giving them more disposable income to spend locally, delivering a boost to the region's economy. Detractors say it will undermine efforts by L.A.'s tourism industry to recover from the decline in business that was sparked by the outbreak of COVID-19 five years ago. They contend the ordinance will lead to layoffs, while also chilling development of new hotels. The ordinance also requires airport and hotel businesses to provide an hourly healthcare payment — on top of the minimum wage — that starts at $7.65 in July and is expected to go up each year. (Hotels will be exempted from that requirement until 2026.) Once the healthcare requirement is included, some businesses will be required to pay their workers an additional 60% over a three-year period, opponents of the wage increase say. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028. The group, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, is hoping to persuade voters to repeal the ordinance. But first, the alliance would need to gather about 93,000 signatures within 30 days to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election. Phil Singer, a spokesperson for the alliance, said the wage increase 'threatens revenue Los Angeles urgently needs' — and its standing as the host of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 'Small businesses will be forced to shut down, workers will lose their jobs, and the economic fallout will stretch across the city,' Singer said in an email. 'We're fighting for all of it: the city's future, the jobs that sustain our communities, and the millions of guests the tourism industry proudly serves year after year.' The new ballot measure campaign comes just two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the minimum wage legislation into law. The wage ordinance has been hotly opposed by an array of L.A. business organizations, which argue that it increases wages in the tourism industry too much and too quickly. However, it was welcomed by unions representing hotel and airport employees, which have supported many of the politicians who backed the measure. The alliance's campaign committee has received major funding from Delta Airlines, United Airlines and the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., Singer said. The group's petition, submitted to the city clerk's office, was signed by five businesspeople, including Greg Plummer, operator of an LAX concession company; Mark Beccaria, a partner with the Hotel Angeleno on L.A.'s Westside; and Alec Mesropian, advocacy manager with the organization known as BizFed. The alliance is targeting a law that's slated to push the hourly minimum wage to $22.50 on July 1 for housekeepers, parking attendants and hotel restaurant workers, as well as LAX skycaps, baggage handlers and concession employees. The wage would jump to $25 in 2026 and $27.50 in 2027. The wage increase was spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11, the hotel and restaurant worker union, and by Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, which represents private-sector airport workers. Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, called the business group's proposal 'shameful' and promised his union's members would go 'toe to toe out on the streets' with the alliance's signature gatherers. 'The hotel industry's greed is limitless,' Petersen said. 'They would rather spend millions getting them to sign this petition than pay their workers enough to live in Los Angeles. It's shameful, but we're confident that Angelenos will see through their deceptions and stand with workers.' Under the city's laws, hotel and airport workers have minimum wages that are higher than those who are employed by other industries. The hotel minimum wage, approved by the council in 2014, is currently $20.32 per hour. The minimum wage for private-sector employees at LAX is $25.23 per hour, which includes a $5.95 hourly healthcare payment. For nearly everyone else in L.A., the hourly minimum wage is $17.28, 78 cents higher than the state's. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Backers of the airport and hotel minimum wage hikes say they will help some of the region's lowest paid workers cover the rising cost of rent and food, while also giving them more disposable income to spend locally, delivering a boost to the region's economy. Detractors say it will undermine efforts by L.A.'s tourism industry to recover from the decline in business that was sparked by the outbreak of COVID-19 five years ago. They contend the ordinance will lead to layoffs, while also chilling development of new hotels. The ordinance also requires airport and hotel businesses to provide an hourly healthcare payment — on top of the minimum wage — that starts at $7.65 in July and is expected to go up each year. (Hotels will be exempted from that requirement until 2026.) Once the healthcare requirement is included, some businesses will be required to pay their workers an additional 60% over a three-year period, opponents of the wage increase say.
