Could LA see $30 minimum wage by 2028? One local union is pushing for that to happen

LOS ANGELES - A hospitality union that successfully pushed for a $30 an hour minimum wage for hotel and airport workers has filed two citywide initiatives aimed at expanding those wage benefits to all industries. 

Boosting citywide minimum wage

What we know:

Unite Here Local 11 representatives submitted paperwork late Monday with the Los Angeles City Clerk to file the voter initiatives. The first aims to boost the citywide minimum wage to $25 an hour, gradually increasing to $30 an hour by July 1, 2028 -- just as the Olympic and Paralympic Games are set to begin in the city.

The second initiative would require voter approval for hotel and event center development projects that receive subsidies from the city, such as tax rebates or below-market prices for city-owned land.

It would also apply to major hotel developments -- involving 80 or more guest rooms, or even center developments adding more than 50,000 square feet or 1,000 square seats -- and require the City Council to find such projects compatible with nearby communities.

Effective July 1, 2025, the minimum wage in unincorporated LA County will be $17.81 an hour and $17.87 in the city. 

What they're saying:

"Tourism corporations often get massive subsidies from taxpayers," Kurt Petersen, co-president of the union, said in a statement. "But we question whether big companies that find tens of millions to pay their CEOs each year and are now spending millions more to overturn a minimum wage hike for their lowest-paid workers really need these subsidies."

"At the very least, voters should get a say on whether their tax dollars should be handed over to these corporations," he added.

Hotel & airport workers' wage 

Elected officials approved an ordinance in May, providing hotel and airport workers with $30 an hour by 2028. Starting in July, workers are expected to receive $22.50 an hour, $25 an hour beginning in July 2026, $27.50 an hour in July 2027 and $30 an hour in July 2028.

These workers will also receive a new $8.35 per hour health care payment, which will begin in July 2026.

A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport known as the Los Angeles Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress launched a petition two days after Mayor Karen Bass signed the ordinance into law.

RELATED: Final approval given for wage increase for LA hotel, airport workers

The other side:

Phil Singer, a spokesman for the coalition, told the Los Angeles Times the wage increase "threatens revenue Los Angeles urgently needs."

"Small businesses will be forced to shut down, workers will lose their jobs, and the economic fallout will stretch across the city," Singer told the newspaper. "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."

What's next:

The group has until June 30 to gather nearly 93,000 signatures from registered voters in Los Angeles to qualify the measure for the June 2026 ballot.

Petitioners can submit more signatures, but cannot fall short of 92,998 valid signatures, which can be the case as a result of duplicates, unregistered voters or signatures from people who live outside of the city.

In response, the union launched a campaign known as "Defend The Wage LA," to inform the public of what they described as "misleading signature- gathering efforts" to overturn the Olympic Wage.

Members of the Tourism Workers Rising Coalition advocated for the minimum wage increase. It is made up of organizations such has Unite Here Local 11 and Services Employees International United-United Service Workers West unions and Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which describes itself as "an organizing and advocacy institution committed to economic, environmental and racial justice."