Citing Los Angeles’ housing crisis, Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, in a July 25, 2023, letter to Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, has announced support for an immediate $30 an hour minimum wage for hotel and airport workers.

The original motion to increase the Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, supported by six council members, would have reached $30 an hour by 2028.

“We know that continued stagnation of wages will only lead to more people falling into homelessness and forced to live in their cars and on our streets,” states Soto-Martinez in his letter.

Soto-Martinez’ letter follows weeks of strikes by thousands of hotel workers at 43 hotels across Los Angeles and Orange counties. The hotel workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 11, has drawn attention to the increased housing insecurity and hardships caused by insufficient wages in the tourism industries, as reported by the Los Angeles Times and others. Members of Local 11 say they will keep fighting until they can afford to live in the same place as they work.

“I am excited that our city leaders see what we are going through. I can’t afford to live where I work without working two jobs. Hotel workers need $30 per hour just to live,” says room attendant Graciela Gomez from Four Points LAX.

If Soto-Martinez and his colleagues are successful, Los Angeles will have the highest minimum wage in the United States.

“It is time for the tourism industry – the economic engine of Los Angeles – to take responsibility for the housing crisis that Angelinos face. I applaud our city officials for following the leadership of Local 11 members to demand a true living wage for the people who are the backbone of this city,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11.

UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona that work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers and airports

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