The March 2024 ballot will include an item to raise Long Beach hotel worker’s minimum wage to $23, and $29.50 by 2028.
Another local labor item has been added to the March 2024 ballot as the Long Beach City Council sent the decision to raise hotel worker’s wages to voters on Tuesday night.
Long Beach residents will be able to vote on whether to raise the minimum wage for hotel and hospitality workers to a $23 per hour minimum by 2024, with annual increases leading to a $29.50 per hour minimum by 2028.
Hotel and hospitality workers minimum wage is currently at $17.55 an hour, with voters passing the last increase through Measure N in 2013. Their minimum wages began at $13 an hour and were raised each year through a “cost of living” increase, but workers unanimously argued that the increases were insufficient compared to the skyrocketing prices of rent, food, gas and other basic living requirements.
The wage increase, if passed, will only affect hotels that have 100 rooms or more. In Downtown Long Beach alone, 15 of the 27 hotels meet this threshold, impacting roughly 2,000 hotel workers.
Long Beach staff estimated 18,000 hotel workers in the city.
Hotel workers’ unions and most of the supporters at the meeting were urging a $25 an hour minimum with annual increases leading to $30 by 2028, but the council ultimately decided on an option that was described as “a middle option” for hotel workers and owners.
“We plan to grow more revenue in our city, and that means we have to be inclusive and make sure … that growth won’t happen unless we make sure workers have a seat at the table and make a fair wage,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “When everyone has a seat at the table, when they’re not making poverty wages it’s better for our city and these are local workers.”
He called the chosen option a “reasonable wage for the voters to consider.”
City Council asked its staff to study the feasibility of a $25 an hour minimum wage at a July 11 meeting. City staff said this type of study would usually be done by an independent third party, but due to the short timeframe, the City had to conduct the study on their own.
Hotel and tourism workers have been on strike all summer, urging their cities to pass wage increases. The protests are resounded by similar movements across various labor markets, such as the writers and actors strikes, the auto workers strikes, University of California workers strikes, Starbucks and Amazon workers strikes and many more this year alone.
The Long Beach Port saw multiple days of stalled movement as unionized workers were on strike for higher wages.
“The council continuously mentions the need to prepare for a growing economy as the city welcomes the World Cup and Olympics, mainly focusing on infrastructure, yet has set aside a critical factor: hospitality workers and their wellbeing,” said Antonio Hernandez, a member of Long Beach Forward, a nonprofit organization that fights against racial and economic inequalities.
Over 60 residents spoke at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, most of which advocated to push the choice to voters. A small portion of speakers asked the council to consider the loss in revenue the wage increase might cause, which was pointed out as one of the possibilities in city staff’s report.
Long Beach’s hotel industry currently produces $23 million annually in revenue, according to staff reports. Smaller hotel owners, who will not have to increase their wages, worry that increased room prices to offset higher wages will drive away tourism.
“This decision will make our beloved Convention Center not competitive and too expensive for future meetings and events to occur in our city. That ripple effect will travel down to area restaurants, retail tenants and hotels whose business will be impacted by this ill-conceived ordinance,” said Jido Dinery, adding that he was not satisfied with an in-house feasibility study.
“The council continuously mentions the need to prepare for a growing economy as the city welcomes the World Cup and Olympics, mainly focusing on infrastructure, yet has set aside a critical factor: hospitality workers and their wellbeing.”
Antonio Hernandez, a member of Long Beach Forward
Following regional strikes, Los Angeles is currently considering a $25 an hour wage minimum; Santa Monica is putting a $30 an hour minimum on their 2024 ballot; Culver City is considering putting a $25 an hour minimum on the ballot; while Anaheim recently opposed a $25 an hour minimum.
Voters will also cast their ballot on the decision to raise the minimum wage for health care workers to $25 in the same voting cycle, after the council passed the item to residents at a November 2022 meeting.
If Governor Gavin Newsom passes a state-wide wage increase for health care workers, Long Beach residents will not vote on that issue. The hotel and hospitality workers wage increase is not on the governor’s desk.
“We urge the council to allow voters to decide whether Long Beach will cater to the will of capital, or prioritize the needs of the working women, immigrants, parents and communities of color that make up the lifeblood of Long Beach’s cultural identity and economy,” said Gabriel Perez with Long Beach For a Just Economy.
