The Los Angeles City Council plans to raise wages for airport and hotel workers to $30 per hour by 2028, coinciding with the Olympic Games. However, business leaders argue that ongoing issues such as a trade war, decreased travel, and recent wildfires have already strained the tourism industry. Calls from various associations urge the council to delay the wage increases, warning that they may lead to more hotel closures and significant damage to the local economy, which is already suffering from a declining entertainment sector and housing production.
"Two hotels have closed. More are starting to reduce services and lay off workers," Rosanna Maietta, president and chief executive of the American Hotel and Lodging Assn., said at City Hall last week. "If this ordinance is enacted, we expect more hotels to close."
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., offered an equally dire warning, saying the wage increases will cause "irreversible damage" to local tourism. With the entertainment industry in crisis and construction of new homes down 57% this year, L.A.'s political leaders cannot afford to lose another sector of the local economy, he said.
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