The political fight over Los Angeles’ Olympic wage ordinance intensified on Friday, June 20, as more than 30 elected officials signed a union-backed letter accusing hotel and airline companies of “misleading voters” in an effort to overturn the law.

UNITE HERE Local 11, a hospitality union that championed the ordinance, announced the letter as part of a broader campaign to push back against a referendum effort that would repeal the ordinance, which raises the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 an hour by 2028.

Earlier this week, the union filed two new ballot initiatives: one to raise the citywide minimum wage to $30 by 2028, and another to require voter approval for large hotel and event center projects that receive public subsidies or involve significant new construction.

Last week, the union filed a complaint with the California Attorney General’s Office, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, that accused the LA Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress—a coalition of businesses who back the referendum petition—of “serious misconduct and probable violations of law,” and asked the agencies to investigate.

Meanwhile, the City Council’s Economic Development and Jobs Committee this Tuesday advanced a motion by Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Curren Price asking staff to calculate the wages hotel and airport workers stand to lose if the ordinance is delayed — and to explore whether those workers could be entitled to back pay if the referendum ultimately fails. The motion also calls for an analysis of possible legal remedies for misconduct tied to the referendum effort.

The Olympic wage ordinance, signed by Mayor Karen Bass on May 30 after passed by the City Council on May 23, will raise the minimum wage for most hotel and airport workers in Los Angeles to $22.50 an hour starting in July. The rate will increase by $2.50 annually through 2028, eventually reaching $30 an hour. The law also includes a health care credit of $7.65 an hour.

Union officials have framed the measure as a long overdue step toward fair pay, as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympics. But hotel industry representatives warn the law could destabilize an already struggling industry.

Just days after the City Council’s vote, the LA Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress filed a referendum petition to overturn the ordinance. To qualify for the June 2026 ballot, the group must submit roughly 93,000 valid signatures by the end of this month.

The union’s letter cites Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and the American Hotel Lodging Association as the top funders of the referendum effort to overturn the ordinance.

Meanwhile, each of the two union-backed ballot initiatives, submitted earlier this week to begin the petition process, must gather 139,497 valid signatures — 15% of the total votes cast in the last mayoral election — to qualify for a future ballot. The City Clerk’s Office confirmed that once approved for circulation all signatures must be collected within the 120-day period immediately before the petition is filed.

Union officials have accused referendum organizers of misleading voters while gathering signatures  — and in at least one case, intimidating union-aligned canvassers.

Andy Seymour, a UNITE HERE signature gatherer, said he was assaulted by opponents during an altercation outside a grocery store in South Los Angeles on June 13. Seymour said it happened after he challenged the accuracy of a petition being circulated nearby.

“ They stole my phone, they punched me multiple times in the face, in the jaw, in my ear, on the side of the head as well,” he said.

LAPD Public Information Officer David Cuellar confirmed on Friday that officers took a robbery report on June 13 in the 5800 block of South Vermont. He declined to provide further details.

Union officials have pointed to the incident as part of a broader pattern of misconduct they say has marred the referendum campaign.

“Their campaign is rotten to the core,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. “It’s full of fraud, violence and misleading information.”

Cydney Hargis, a spokesperson for the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, the coalition behind the referendum effort, pushed back strongly on the union’s allegations.

“It’s not surprising the union would resort to these tactics—especially given the violence and intimidation that referendum opponents have directed at our signature gatherers,” Hargis said in a statement. “This referendum is a last line of defense against an economic crisis for the tourism sector, and the petition makes crystal clear what voters are being asked to sign. Period.”

The group also criticized the union’s new ballot initiatives, saying they would jeopardize major development projects that benefit both the tourism industry and organized labor.

“This initiative is one union killing other union jobs and creating a looming economic crisis that the city’s tourism industry will face the consequences of,” Hargis said. “Case in point: the initiative being proposed will kill the Convention Center project that union workers would otherwise have and the tourism industry would benefit from. The union can play its games, but we remain focused on protecting L.A. residents from lasting, widespread job loss.”

The motion advanced out of the Economic Development and Jobs Committee on a 3-1 vote, with City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian absent. Councilmember Traci Park, who cast the lone vote against it, also opposed the Olympic Wage Ordinance when it was passed. She said she couldn’t support the new measure — arguing that the kind of political tactics now being criticized by the union were similar to those used against her.

“As someone who has been repeatedly targeted and harassed and victimized by lies and intentionally misleading campaigns, hundreds of thousands of dollars, funded by UNITE HERE, I have some really serious questions and concerns,” Park said.

She added: “I voted no on the tourism wage ordinance because I didn’t think it was thoughtful. I didn’t think it took into account economic realities. It fails to spare small businesses. I didn’t think the time was right, and I was well within my rights to vote the way I did, just like you all were free to vote the other way. And it troubles me that this motion appears to be motivated by allegations made now by a group that engages in the very same misleading tactics on a regular basis.”