Long Beach Convention Center concession workers stood outside the Terrace Theater on the evening of Jan. 14, holding signs and chanting for fair wages amidst their labor strike.
Just inside the theater, City workers and residents at the annual State of the City sat in their best business professional attire and listened to Mayor Rex Richardson’s plans to make Long Beach a live music mecca and tourist destination.
He celebrated the $2 billion tourism brought into the city last year, and said he trusts the “good faith” negotiations taking place between the workers outside and their management company ASM Global. ASM Global manages the Convention Center, along with 90 other arenas or centers worldwide, and the City recently chose them as the operator for the outdoor amphitheater that will be built on the waterfront.
On Jan. 7, the Long Beach City Council passed a wage ordinance update for food and retail workers at the Convention Center and Long Beach Airport (LGB) that local workers rights leaders have since called “a huge step backwards.”
How Did We Get Here? A Rough Timeline Between the City, Workers and Organizers.
Spring 2024 – The Work Begins
Since April 5, 2024, two local workers rights groups, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and Long Beach for a Just Economy (LBJE), have been pushing to get these workers higher wages. Specifically, to get 203 workers (87 Airport employees and 116 Convention Center employees) on the same wage schedule voters passed for hotel workers with Measure RW.
Due to City law, Convention Center and Airport food and retail workers’ wages don’t require a citywide vote to change — the Long Beach City Council has the power to change their wages. Long Beach City Council last established a minimum wage and scale for LGB and Convention Center concession workers in 2014, setting the minimum wage at $13.26. Those wages are currently set at a minimum of $17.36.
On April 11, 2024, an organizer with LBJE, Gabriel Perez, told the Signal Tribune they were hopeful the council would approve these higher wages quickly, given that voters already approved them for other tourism workers.
“We’re trying to go back to the original vision and see it through,” Perez said in April. “It’s about equity. They’re also a backbone of the tourism industry, so we wanted to go back and realize the original vision and intention.”
Summer 2024 – Council Responds, Labor Negotiations Begin
In June 2024, the Long Beach City Council appointed City Manager Tom Modica and the Economic Development Department to look into the options and impacts of raising these wages.
Meanwhile, Convention Center workers began labor negotiations with ASM Global in September 2024.
Fall 2024 – The Report is Released, Problems Arise
When the report from Economic Development was released in November 2024, alarm bells went off with workers and organizers. Of the three options presented in the report, the only mention of temporary workers, or those hired through a staffing agency, is in “Option 2” to clarify that these workers will not be included in the new wages.
ASM Global regularly hires temporary workers when the center hosts a large event.
The Signal Tribune emailed ASM Global on Jan. 13 asking how many temporary workers the company hires annually and has not received a response as of Jan. 23.
Since the original wage ordinance — last updated in 2014 — does include temporary workers, Perez called it “confusing” and “frustrating” that these workers were left out of the report.
“It undermines and defeats the purpose of the ordinance and incentivizes employers to keep employees at a temporary level,” Perez said in an interview with the Signal Tribune on Dec. 6.
Also left out of the potential impacts portion of the report was the multiplier effect, which means that when workers make more, they spend more and thus contribute more into the local economy.
Perez said LAANE and LBJE were urging the Long Beach City Council to move the vote on the ordinance to a later date, only after temporary workers are included.
The Signal Tribune asked a spokesperson with the Economic Development Department why temporary workers were not included in the proposed wages. Their written response on Jan. 9 is as follows:
“Only Option 2 included a recommendation related to the application of the minimum wage to temporary agency workers. LAANE’s recommendation was to not change or alter ordinance language related to the application of the wage. So, in Option 3 there was no recommendation to amend that language as requested by LAANE.”
Perez called the Economic Development Department’s response “misleading.” He said the organization was asking the City not to alter the ordinance language of the 2014 ordinance, which includes temporary workers.
Winter 2025 – The Council Decides, Organizers Express Disappointment
Despite requests from LAANE and LBJE to hold off on voting on the ordinance until the report was amended, the item went in front of the Long Beach City Council on Jan. 7.
The report included three options:
- Option 1 – Leave wages up to ASM Global for the Convention Center and Paradies for the Airport.
- Option 2 – Implement a wage schedule equal to Measure RW, with the exclusion of temporary workers.
- Option 3 – Implement Measure RW and give workers retroactive pay from July 1, 2024.
At the Jan. 7 city council meeting, the labor negotiations between ASM Global and Convention Center workers were brought up several times. Councilmembers insisted that ASM Global has already agreed to wages “equal to or higher than” the wages set with Measure RW. Residents criticized the council for coinciding their vote with ongoing negotiations.
“The city should not tie policies to ongoing labor negotiations,” said Grecia Lopez-Reyes, an organizer with LAANE. “This undermines the City’s authority to enact independent policies that prioritize equity and community wellbeing.”
Nearly every resident who spoke during public comment urged the City Council to postpone their vote until temporary workers are included in the conversation. None of the public speakers were in favor of any of the options presented.
“I’m deeply concerned about the city’s proposal that excludes agency workers from that law,” public commenter Andrea Donado said. “Other cities are looking to us for leadership, and if this proposal does this, it will instead take our city backwards […] Whether a worker directly works for an operator or a staffing agency should not determine whether they are paid a living wage or not.”
Councilmember Suely Saro added a motion that temporary workers would be included in the agreed upon wages only after working 960 hours in under a single calendar year. Vice Mayor Roberto Uranga urged the council to push the vote, partially due to public comment and also because three councilmembers were absent from the meeting.
Many residents and organizers expressed concerns that excluding temporary workers would incentivize ASM Global to hire more temporary workers at a lower wage rather than full or part-time workers at higher wages.
City Manager Tom Modica said including temporary workers in the ordinance would cost around $400,000 and “bring the City’s cost of the Convention Center to $2.6 million,” which would in turn raise the City’s costs for the center, making it raise its prices and thus making the Convention Center “less competitive.”
Alternatively, the City Attorney’s Office told the council that they could vote to pass a “living wage” ordinance onto a staffing agency. The council did not discuss this option.
After a brief discussion, Long Beach City Council voted on Option 2.
On Jan. 12, workers at the Convention Center, who are also union members with Unite Here! Local 11, voted by an 85% majority to authorize a strike amidst labor negotiations with ASM Global.
The Signal Tribune spoke to Perez on Jan. 14, and although he called the move from the council “a huge step backwards,” he said they’re still hopeful they can get a resolution passed that includes all workers.
In response to the council’s decision, Ada Briceño, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11 said in a public statement, “As the city and our region are gearing up for the Olympics and Paralympics of 2028, it is disappointing that leaders are taking steps that would strip workers [of] a living wage. The city and its leadership have an opportunity to right this wrong.”
The union is calling on the City to reverse their decision.
The Signal Tribune reached out to the mayor’s office via email Jan. 20 asking if the City’s decision was final, and if they’re considering adding a resolution that includes temporary workers. As of the time of publication on Jan. 23, we have not received a response.
