Powerful Los Angeles labor unions are pushing for a “New Deal” ahead of the 2028 Olympics, demanding $30-an-hour wages for all, a ban on short-term rentals, and stronger protections for illegal immigrant workers from federal raids.
Unite Here Local 11, a hotel workers union, and its allies have escalated their demands ahead of major sporting events coming to the city. Los Angeles plans to host the FIFA World Cup next year, followed by the Super Bowl, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028.
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The Los Angeles City Council already approved a wage increase for airport and hotel workers, which would hit $30 per hour by July 2028. But there has been pushback and an effort to overturn it, with a referendum petition submitted by business groups backed by Delta and United Airlines. Delta Airlines is a corporate partner of LA28.
LA businesses argued that such high wages would cripple the industry, forcing small businesses out of business and making the wage hike too high, too soon. They also argued that it would undermine the city’s tourism industry, which has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The business group also warned that a $30 minimum wage would lead to layoffs and could affect development plans for more hotels.
The unions have disputed those claims and are now going on the offensive.
“We believe the Games present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our city,” Unite Here Local 11 President Kurt Peterson said. “A new deal that guarantees union jobs and $30 an hour minimum wage for all workers in Los Angeles.”
The unions held a press conference on Thursday outside the Coliseum, which will cohost the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Peterson threatened to “leverage dozens of upcoming union contract negotiations to force change.”
“If LA28 and their billionaire backers refuse to change course, we will take this fight to the streets and to the Games,” Peterson added. “ When the world’s eyes are on Los Angeles in 2028, we will not hesitate to strike.”
Union members said they wanted to see their benefits match the additional work that would be required of them to house and feed millions of tourists planning trips to Los Angeles.
“ A lot of people are gonna stay in our hotels,” Emmanuel Cabrera, a bellman at the Westin Bonaventure and organizer with Unite Here, said. “We’re just asking for our fair share.”
Union officials at the rally also noted that world sporting events often failed to produce lasting benefits for host cities, causing price increases that displace low-income residents and leave communities struggling.
“After the Games are over, what’s left for LA? “ Armando Elenes, secretary-treasurer of United Farm Workers, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The unions are also demanding that the International Olympic Committee severes ties with Airbnb. They accused the short-term rental company of depleting housing stock by removing them from the long-term rental market, which in turn drives up rent and affects Los Angeles’s already out-of-control homelessness crisis.
Airbnb representatives have pushed back on the unions’ claims and said the company has generated $4.4 billion in economic activity in Los Angeles in the past two years and brought in $1.2 billion in tax revenue.
“Airbnb is focused on ensuring Los Angeles’ visitors have an affordable place to stay, while the city gets the revenue it needs to prevent cuts to public services — all without taxing Angelenos,” Justin Wesson, a senior public policy manager at Airbnb, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “UNITE HERE continues to put hotel special interests ahead of what’s best for locals.”
Airbnb insists it’s filling a much-needed lodging gap in the city. The 2028 Olympics are expected to bring in 2.3 million tourists. Los Angeles area hotels can only accommodate 174,000 guests per day, though the demand exceeds 575,000 guests per day, Airbnb said.
Petersen also took issue with early promises from LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman, who promised that if Los Angeles won its bid to host the Olympics, it would build an Olympic Village with 17,000 beds for athletes, coaches, and staff that would later be converted into permanent housing.
When those plans fell through, the unions were left fuming.
“Housing is the No. 1 problem for everyone,” Petersen added. “We gave [housing construction] up here. And we’re saying, ‘No no no.’ We need to have that vision — that vision that somehow disappeared.”
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For now, the city plans to use UCLA’s campus as the site for the Olympic and Paralympic Village.
Calls to Unite Here from the Washington Examiner for comment were not returned.