The Long Beach City Council has voted to increase the minimum wage for concession workers at the city’s airport and convention center to $29.50 per hour before the Olympics and Paralympic Games come to the Southland in 2028.
Long Beach will host several Olympic events in 2028, including beach volleyball, sailing, rowing and canoe sprint, and water polo. The city-owned airport and convention center are set to receive millions of dollars in funding to prepare for the 2026 World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Workers and the unions that represent them have been pushing for the wage mandate for more than a year. The wage mandate applies to their private employers, whom the city contracts to operate the convention center and airport concessions.
The policy approved Tuesday evening also extends protections to future workers at the Long Beach Bowl, a waterfront venue adjacent to the Queen Mary that will be the second-largest outdoor amphitheater in LA County.
In May, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a similar “Olympic wage” law that raises the wage for Los Angeles tourism workers to $30 an hour by 2028.