Los Angeles City Council Meeting - May 14, 2025: Tourism Worker Wage Ordinance Debated and Approved
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Los Angeles City Council Meeting - May 14, 2025
On May 14, 2025, the Los Angeles City Council held a regularly scheduled meeting. The primary focus was the debate and amendment of Item 5, an ordinance to increase wages and health benefits for tourism workers at LAX and hotels. After extensive public comment and multiple amendments, the council voted 12-3 to approve the ordinance as amended, with a second reading scheduled for May 23, 2025.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of the minutes from May 13, 2025.
- Commendatory resolutions were approved.
- Items 2-4 and 6 (public hearings held) were voted on and passed.
- Items 7-20 (public hearings not held) were voted on and passed.
- Item 21 (closed session) was noted but no public hearing was held.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Support for wage increase: Many workers from LAX and hotels, along with union representatives and community members, urged the council to pass the $30/hour wage ("Olympic wage") by 2028. Speakers highlighted the struggle to afford rent and healthcare, citing 40-45% unemployment among workers and the need for a living wage. Testimony included:
- Maria Vasquez (LAX worker) stressed the need for wage increase to afford living in LA.
- Jessica Durham (Tourism Workers Rising Coalition) noted that the policy would bring in over $15 million in tax revenue and cited past examples where industry predictions of doom did not materialize.
- Esturado Mazariegos (former LAX worker) argued $30 is not enough given the cost of living.
- Several workers described sacrifices and hardships, e.g., Esperanza Montes faced eviction.
- Opposition to wage increase: Business representatives and some hotel workers warned of negative economic impacts.
- Carlos Peña (LA Chamber of Commerce) called the ordinance reckless and harmful to small businesses.
- Aaron Taxi (Hollywood Chamber of Commerce) cited potential job losses and reduced TOT revenue.
- A speaker from limited service hotels urged an exemption, noting that 45% of income goes to salaries and a wage increase would raise that to 83%, forcing closures.
- Diana De La Torre (former HR director at Mama Shelter) reported that the hotel closed due to unsustainable labor costs, losing 130 jobs.
- General public comment: Several speakers also requested funding for day labor centers and immigrant support services.
Discussion Items
- Item 5 – Tourism Worker Wage Ordinance: The main agenda item. The council considered amendments to the proposed ordinance.
- Amendment 5E (Padilla, McCosker, Yaroslavsky): Modified training and certification requirements to allow workers to retake exams without penalty. Passed 15-0.
- Amendment 5D (Hutt, Price): Failed 2-13.
- Amendment 5C (Lee, Rodriguez, Park): Sought to redefine "hotel worker" to exclude variable compensation workers and those working less than 5 hours/week for 4 weeks. After debate, the council referred this amendment to committee to avoid unintended wage cuts for restaurant workers. No vote.
- Amendment 5B (Harris-Dawson, Raman, Yaroslavsky): Substitute motion by Council President Krekorian to delay the health benefit increase and reduce the first-year wage increase to $2.44/hour. Passed.
- Amendment 5A (Lee): Sought to exempt limited service hotels with 150 rooms or fewer from the wage increase. Failed.
- Amendment 5G (Nazarian, Blumenfield): Required that employees who opt out of employer health coverage (because they have other insurance) receive a cash-in-lieu payment ($100/month for full-time, $50/month for part-time). Initially passed but later reconsidered for a technical amendment reducing the health benefit from $8.35 to $7.65/hour. Final version passed 13-2.
- Amendment 5F (Rodriguez, Padilla, Lee, Price, Yaroslavsky): Required the CLA to report back to committee six months before and after implementation of the wage and health benefit increases regarding impacts on tourism. Passed 15-0.
- Presentation by LA Tourism CEO Adam Burke: During discussion of 5C, Burke presented sobering data: LA ranks second to last in tourism recovery from COVID, 21st in conventions, and faces a 15,000 job loss projection if the $30 wage is implemented. He noted that 12 hotels with 2,876 rooms are in final planning but may be canceled if the ordinance passes.
- Enforcement discussion: Councilmember McCosker questioned the Bureau of Contract Administration (BCA) about enforcement capacity. BCA requested 5 new positions (compliance program manager, data analyst, 3 management analysts) to handle the new enforcement responsibilities. This request is tied to the upcoming budget.
Key Outcomes
- Item 5 approved as amended: The council voted 12-3 to approve the ordinance with amendments. The final ordinance includes:
- A phased wage increase to $30/hour by 2028, with a $2.44/hour increase in the first year.
- Delayed health benefit increase.
- Cash-in-lieu payments for employees who opt out of employer health coverage.
- A report-back requirement on tourism impacts.
- A second reading is required on May 23, 2025, due to the non-unanimous vote.
- Amendment 5C referred to committee: The redefinition of hotel worker will be studied further to avoid wage cuts.
- Amendment 5A failed: No exemption for limited service hotels up to 150 rooms.
- Closed session: No reportable actions.
- Adjournment: The meeting adjourned in honor of Dr. Leo Pandak, a community leader.
Meeting Transcript
Like all workers unite, right? If you come after one community, one vulnerable community, we're gonna stand up together and show you that you're messing with all of us. One struggle! One fight! Workers! One struggle! We're standing today with all workers because we know that right now workers are under attack. Families are under attack. The Department of Education is under attack, and we're not gonna stand by that. And we want to make sure that we stand in solidarity and push back on these unfair policies that are targeting the working class folks. We have about 40 to 45% unemployment currently, right now. How many people are not working right now? That's how many people are working right now. I work for the animation guild where IATSC local 839, and our members are losing jobs, they're losing their health insurance, they're going on unemployment, they're using the social safety net programs the state has. Council Member Adrine Nazarian welcomed industry workers to City Hall as the council approved his motion to make filming in LA more affordable. We're in front of City Hall right now. We just took a unanimous vote of a motion that I introduced with several of my colleagues to make sure that we help protect filming in Los Angeles. Production has really dried up. We actually have members who haven't worked in almost two years. Two years, think about that. They've exhausted their unemployment, they've run out of health care, they don't really have money to pay bills, buy food, just do the normal everyday stuff to survive. So that's why this was really critical for us to be here in support. I think about the downtown ecosystem when I think about this problem because we've seen shuttered businesses, we have empty storefronts, we have less foot traffic on our streets. Why not use this moment to increase production in parts of our city that also need that economic boost? This was a first step to making sure that we look at how we can reduce permitting costs, how we can reduce parking to personnel usage and other permitting fees in order to make sure that we're lowering costs on all fronts and that filmmakers are motivated to continue filming and making films in Los Angeles. Those of us that come here from other states and other cities, we come here because this is the Mecca. This is the place where all of the magic happens, and the idea that in the last four or five years, it's really hard to get a job in the city. This was a first good step to make sure that we let entertainment industry know that Los Angeles is listening, cares, and what's wants to take the right steps to make sure that we protect and preserve and grow this industry back again in Los Angeles. Once this performing arts center is built, we're gonna host Shakespeare and so much more art in the beauty of Griffith Park. Over the last 14 years, we've had to build a temporary platform there. We're on a slope right now. It's kind of difficult to build that. So it can never really be that big or that high. So we had sightline problems with the audience. The sets couldn't be all that impressive. It's very hard to light from above. So this is gonna have a much bigger stage. A tall overhead grid. The lighting was sets, everything's gonna look so much more impressive. When you have art performed in nature, that it attracts families, young people in to enjoy it. Griffith Park in particular is such a beautiful gem here in the city of Los Angeles, and to have the ability to showcase art here, as is done in major parks across the world. This is something that Los Angeles is long overdue for. One of the things that I think I would love to highlight just about this space is that it's seen so many different functions. It was the old zoo before the LA Zoo opened up. Then it became sort of a picnic area. It's still a space where we congregate, really getting those family moments together. These are places where people celebrate. You know, that's what we say about our parks. They're places where people recreate, but they're also where you know spaces where people celebrate. People have been waiting for the groundbreaking of this theater for a very long time.
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