"Without these workers the games will not happen"

With less than two years until the World Cup, LA's host committee recently put out a report predicting that LA County will see $594 million in economic impact from the 39-day soccer event: 329,650 hotel room nights, 179,200 out-of-town visitors, with each visitor spending an estimated $2,350 while they're here. The report also estimates "a quarter of a billion dollars in increased wages for employees in Southern California distributed across many industries in the LA area." But who will actually see those "increased wages" in the city of LA is still up for debate.

In May, I wrote about the Olympic wage, a proposed LA city ordinance introduced in April 2023 that would raise the minimum wage for tourism workers to $25/hour immediately and $30/hour by 2028. For over a year, tourism workers have been a regular presence at City Hall, demanding that councilmembers bring the Olympic wage up for a vote. This week, a sternly worded letter sent on behalf of over 30,000 hospitality workers to the Los Angeles World Cup Host Committee, along with the heads of the IOC, LA28, and FIFA, urges them to endorse the Olympic wage — or there might not be any games at all.

“Instead of gloating about the economic gains expected for giant hoteliers, Airbnb, airport, and event companies, those leading the Olympic Games, FIFA, and LA28 need to be smart about investing in the tourism workers that will make the games a possibility," says Unite Here Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen. "Without these workers the games will not happen."

The letter, written by Petersen along with Unite Here co-presidents Ada Briceño and Susan Minato, provides a blistering critique of the IOC and FIFA's own supposed commitments to human rights in its host cities:

The World Cup and the Olympic Games represent a turning point for Los Angeles as rising inequality threatens the region’s prosperity. Both FIFA and the IOC have committed themselves to promoting sustainable economic development and humanitarian values, including in the IOC’s case “to promot[ing] a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host cities, regions and countries” as part of its mandate under the Olympic Charter. Yet to date, actors like the IOC, LA28, and FIFA have done far too little to ensure that our communities will actually benefit. Supporting the Olympic Wage would mark a critical first step in forging a new, better deal for working families as our City enters the global center stage and would help pave the way for a lasting legacy of equitable economic growth from these megaevents.

It's not the first time Unite Here has tried to appeal directly to the megaevent powerbrokers. In 2021, Unite Here sent a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino demanding that FIFA choose labor-friendly venues. While LA's 2026 World Cup matches are set to be played at SoFi, which is unionized, the 2025 Club World Cup matches are being played at the Rose Bowl, which is not.

The Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee is structured a bit differently than LA28 in that it's not one organization dedicated to just producing the World Cup. It's run by the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, the nonprofit that works closely with city leadership to bring (more and more and more) megaevents to LA. Tomorrow, in fact, LASEC is partnering with the city for the 2024 Sports and Entertainment Supplier Diversity Summit, a huge procurement expo happening at the convention center. The event promises "monumental opportunities" for small businesses hoping to make money from the games.

But those same opportunities aren't being extended to María Rubio, who works for a company making inflight meals for international flights at LAX. Rubio has spent a lot of time at City Hall with her fellow workers, demanding the council take action. "A lot of us are in the same boat," she told me in Spanish. "We all have a lot of outrage about the need to have this Olympic wage."

Rubio, who is 72, pays $1500 per month for a studio. She would like to retire but she can't afford to, she says. But low wages are also affecting her job in other ways — without paying more competitively, her company can't retain workers. "The pay isn’t nearly enough for people to stay in the positions," she says. "We’re all doing the work sometimes of two to three people because the people don't last." LAX also recently scaled back expansion plans that were meant to be completed by 2028, which worries Rubio because more passengers guarantee more business.

While an Olympic wage endorsement from the organizing bodies of the Olympics and World Cup would be very meaningful, it's not clear what exactly will motivate LA's councilmembers to take action at this point. It's been almost 18 months now with no vote, despite a city report which confirmed that paying tourism workers more would benefit the local economy immediately. During that same period, the council hustled through a four-year plan to give LAPD officers raises despite warnings of dire financial risk. Smaller cities have also accomplished what LA cannot bring itself to do. Since July, Long Beach has been home to the highest minimum wage in the country after the city raised tourism worker wages to $23/hour with an escalator to $29.50/hour by 2028. Long Beach is now working to raise pay for the city's airport workers in the name of economic equity.

The Olympic wage seems like one more Olympic legacy that LA is letting slip through its fingers. But I'm sure the megaevent producers will continue to have no problem finding endless new ways to profit off our city. Rubio says while she likes to watch soccer and loves the idea of the World Cup coming to LA, as a tourism worker, it's hard to get excited. "They’re the ones making all the money," she says, "and we’re the ones stuck with a lot of the work." 🔥