By Rev. Gary Williams and Rev. Dr. James Thomas
It has been said that poverty is the worst form of violence. If so, withholding a living wage from workers who depend on one makes wealthy business owners complicit. This is precisely what members of the airline and hotel industries are doing by funding a ballot measure to overturn the law, passed last month, that promised a living wage increase for tourism workers and their access to family health insurance. This law was a hard-won victory for the workers, faith leaders, and community members who fought diligently for it for over two years. Now, business interests have launched a massive signature-gathering effort across our city to get their measure on the ballot—and deny workers what they need to survive.
The group behind the effort—registered as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress—is funded by deep-pocketed corporations, including Delta and United Airlines and lobbying groups like the American Hotel & Lodging Association. This group is willing to spend millions of dollars to steal a living wage from the employees who allow their businesses to thrive, rather than invest in their well-being.
Furthermore, we are dismayed and disgusted by reports that petition gatherers are spreading lies, telling voters that signing the petition will raise the wage, in many cases because they themselves have been misinformed by the referendum operation.
As faith leaders in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, we have borne witness to testimonies from many of the thousands of tourism workers who live in our communities. They prepare food for us on our flights but struggle to put food on the table for their children. They, who clean our hotel rooms and provide hospitality while we are away from home, are forced into impossible decisions in theirs—like paying for medications or keeping a roof over their heads. A living wage is not a political issue. It is a moral and spiritual dilemma.
Withholding the living wage from the vulnerable is considered a serious crime in many faith traditions. In the Jewish and Christian sacred text, God spoke through the prophet Amos and condemned those who “have sold the innocent for silver, and those in need for a pair of sandals” as criminals (Amos 2:6-7). The Los Angeles tourism industry is thriving because of the hard labor of the workers, who are our neighbors, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and friends. As Black leaders of faith, we cannot help but notice that the majority of tourism workers are people of color and immigrants. They often experience hostility and discrimination for the color of their skin or the accent in their voice, and yet they are the backbone of a major economic engine in our city.
In today’s anti-migrant and pro-billionaire administration, communities of color are united in advocating for the most vulnerable among us. From the White House to the streets of Los Angeles, it is our moral imperative to stand up for those in need. For over two decades, faith leaders of various faith traditions connected with Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) have accompanied low-wage workers in their holy struggle for dignity and respect in the workplace.
We invited workers to our worship services and made space in the pulpits for them to share their stories with our congregation members. We prayed with the workers and accompanied them in the city halls and on the streets. Together, we have prevailed over many attempts by corporations to crush working-class families in our city.
Today, we can do that again. We can defend the wage increase and access to quality healthcare for tourism workers by not signing the petition being misleadingly peddled across our city.
Defending the wage for tourism workers now is defending our city from the violence of corporations. Defending the wage for tourism workers is building the Beloved Community, where care and dignity are our economy. Defending the wage for tourism workers is confronting corporations with the truth that our power of solidarity is stronger than their greed. Do not sign the misleading petition!
Rev. Gary Williams is a Senior Pastor of St. Mark United Methodist Church and a Board Member of Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Rev. Dr. James Thomas is a Senior Pastor of Living Word Community Church and Professor in Political Science at California State University of Los Angeles