LA’s Tourism And The Underpaid Workers Behind It: A Local Community Organizer Shares The Biggest Challenges and Solutions

Author: Ioana Podarita

October 9, 2025

[Image credit: UNITE HERE]

Los Angeles’ economy has been a hot topic of discussion this past year, with its main financial contributing sector – tourism – recovering from the global pandemic, devastating wildfires, and now facing decreased international travel. Even with these challenges, California and Los Angeles continue to lead the country’s hospitality industry. The LA County Economic Development Corporation reported that travellers looking to immerse themselves in Hollywood culture bring in about $18 billion per year, with spendings varying from hotels, amusement parks, car rentals, and more. Los Angeles’ bustling travel industry is made possible by about 510,000 workers, but a recent ordinance raising their minimum wage to $30 was met with hostility.

Local unions, including Unite Here Local 11, have long been advocating for hospitality workers to be able to survive LA’s rapidly increasing cost of living. In May of this year, the Citywide Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance supported by unions was signed into law by Mayor Karen Bass, but was soon petitioned by travel business groups impacted by it. The LA Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress – one of the most vocal opponents of the ordinance – launched a controversial campaign collecting signatures to overturn it. The ordinance – also called the Olympic Wage, as it was intended to provide higher wages for hospitality workers in the upcoming Olympic games – was on track to take effect on July 1, but was halted after the submission of the petition signatures. In response to this, Unite Here continues to advocate for the Olympic Wage and has also filed a ballot proposal seeking to put the development of “event centers” in LA to a public vote. This proposed ballot measure fueled the tensions between hospitality giants and workers and unions, as Los Angeles is set to host the Summer Olympics in 2028. Dayquan Moeller, a community organizer with Unite Here Local 11, and former hospitality worker, talked to HRRC about unionizing efforts and pushback in Los Angeles, his personal motivations to organize, and ways to advocate for and educate workers on their rights. Moeller declined to comment on the developing struggle with the ballot measure. 

“It's money. You can always follow the money and you'll find a billionaire behind a campaign against something that would help everyday people,” Moeller said about the most common type of resistance unions face. “But also, working in the community, talking with my own friends and family – sometimes we buy into a lot of the lies and the propaganda. We internalize it and justify it to ourselves. I hear people who work for minimum wage saying ‘If you raise the minimum wage, inflation will go up. If you raise the minimum wage, we'll let lazy people get jobs they don’t deserve.’ So I think materially, the billionaire class creates the conditions, but also we kind of internalize it and justify it. And so I think part of the challenge is working and educating our neighbors as well.”

Moeller’s drive to organize was sparked by his and his family’s experiences working in hospitality in Los Angeles. “I say this as someone who's worked in the service industry – at restaurants and bars and theaters – and also as the child of service workers. Both of my parents and a lot of my siblings and cousins work at Dodger Stadium. And it's not enough. LA is one of the most expensive places to live in the country, and the prices are only going up every year. At most of my jobs I was only making $17.50, before tips. And that's not enough. The wealth that we generate in these industries – as people come from all over the world to LA, to California – it's not redistributed.”

Moeller’s concern for the discrepancy between the revenue brought into LA by the tourism industry, and the low wages the workers receive, is validated in light of the rising cost of living in the area. Rent, utilities, transportation, and grocery prices are significantly higher in Los Angeles than the national average. While supporting a multibillion-dollar industry, LA workers barely make enough to live. 

“So I think on the local and state level we need to do more to pass policies as well, in addition to unionization efforts. Laws addressing the minimum wage; ordinances that hold companies responsible to their communities and to ethical developments,” Moeller seemingly hints at the ongoing policy struggle. “I think the city is becoming more and more reliant on tourism and the service industry, but at the same time becoming more hostile to the people that work in those industries. That's why it's really important to organize.”

Only 10% of workers in the United States are represented by a union (a 10% decrease since 1983), and the majority of Americans view this decline as bad for working people and for the country, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Workers who organize and become protected by a union typically earn 30% more than non-union workers, receive more health coverage, and are more likely to have guaranteed pensions. Union workers are also protected from unjust dismissal and can utilize the “collective bargaining power,” meaning that the union negotiates with the employer on the workers’ behalf. Union workers can also be beneficial for employers, as unions have been linked to increased productivity, decreased employee turnover, improved communication, and better training. 

Moeller mentions that the most common way people organize is through the National Labor Relations Act, which requires a majority of workers to vote in favor of unionizing in an election. He points out that organizing is possible and beneficial at all levels, regardless of the size of the team, “You might think it’s only big companies that should organize, but small local businesses should really be organized as well.”

Even with the protections of unions, workers may still have to struggle for years for fair contracts from their employers, “It's very difficult, especially if you have a very powerful company,” Moeller says. “A big part of [being successful] is that the community has to help out; the community has to care. And by community, to make it more specific – your friends, family, and neighbors. They have to know what you're going through.” Moeller stresses the importance of sustained support from the community for workers, and condemns the lukewarm form of community organizing that he calls “hit & run activism” – “It’s like ‘Okay, I'll go to this one action and then go home and never go again.’ Be very intentional with your activism. If you see a post on social media, don't just repost the infographic – look at the page and [the person that posted it], maybe even message them. And then, eventually, after talking to people, they'll be happy to bring you on board too. Because if they're a good organizer, they'll always be looking for more people to bring on board. Be very curious in a very intentional way, and then it'll kind of break down this kind of mysticism. We study history, and we think of these figures who lead movements – but it's never really just one person that leads it, and they're not special or magicians or anything. They're literally just everyday people doing it.”

[Image credit: UNITE HERE]

Moeller emphasizes that it is up to all of us, not just unions, to protect and educate each other, and that becoming a community advocate is more accessible than we might think: “When you’re talking to workers at a union shop, ask them questions about it. If you are at a protest, ask the organizer ‘how did you put this together?’ Be very intentional.” 

Moeller, like many other community organizers and activists, admits the emotional and sometimes physical toll that organizing can take on them, but stresses that advocacy is not only necessary, but also personally rewarding, especially during uncertain times – “It’s really empowering. I think getting organized, helping your community, also really helps yourself – because it makes you feel powerful. If you're feeling hopeless right now, getting more involved in the struggle is going to make you –” Moeller hesitates, “It's going to be stressful at first. There will be times when you're going to feel hopeless. But being in the fight – that is what's going to build you up; and being in the community is what's going to lift you up. So I hope anyone who's feeling really hopeless right now doesn't pull back from the struggle, but leans into it, because that's what's going to get you through. Lean on each other. You forget how important community is until that's all you have.”

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Glossary

• Advocate – a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.

• Ballot proposal – questions placed before voters on local or statewide ballots. The ballot initiative process gives people the ability to propose constitutional amendments or statutes (depending on the state) and collect signatures to place those proposals directly before voters.

• Bustling – to be full of activity.

• Community organizer – a person who coordinates cooperative work and campaigning carried out by local residents to promote the interests of their community.

• Discrepancy – an unexpected difference.

• Halted – to bring or come to an abrupt stop.

• Hospitality – broad group of service businesses that provide accommodation, food and beverage services, and entertainment to customers, focusing on guest experience and satisfaction.

• Hostility – unfriendliness or opposition.

• Immerse – to involve oneself deeply in a particular activity.

• Ordinance – a law or rule made by a government or authority.

• Revenue – the income that a government or company receives regularly.

• Tourism – the commercial organization and operation of holidays and visits to places of interest.

• Union – an organized association of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests; a trade union.

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Sources

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2. Union Plus. (2025). Benefits of union membership. https://www.unionplus.org/page/benefits-union-membership. 

3. Blazina, C. (2025). Majorities of adults see decline of union membership as bad for the U.S. and working people. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/27/majorities-of-adults-see-decline-of-union-membership-as-bad-for-the-us-and-working-people/. 

4. PayScale. (2025). Cost of living in Los Angeles. https://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator/California-Los-Angeles. 

5. Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. (2022). Hospitality & tourism. https://laedc.org/industry-cluster-development/hospitality-tourism/. 

6. Hussain, S., & Zahniser, D. (2025). Union launches dueling ballot measures, escalating fight over L.A.’s tourism worker wage hike. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-06-17/union-introduces-dueling-ballot-measures-escalating-fight-over-l-a-s-tourism-worker-wage-hike. 

7. Mateer, N. (2025). LA passed a $30 minimum wage for hospitality workers. Hotels continue to fight it. Hotel Dive. https://www.hoteldive.com/news/la-passed-a-30-minimum-wage-for-hospitality-workers-hotels-continue-to-fi/754168/. 

8. McDonald, S. (2025). California, top state for tourism, may face “Trump Slump,” Newsom says. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-05-05/california-still-no-1-for-tourism-despite-incoming-trump-slump-newsom-says. 

9. Zahniser, D. (2025). Hotel union proposal could force 2028 Olympic venues onto the ballot. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-04/olympic-ballot-measure.