The Long Beach City Council on Jan. 7 directed the city manager and city attorney to prepare an ordinance updating the city’s minimum-wage ordinance for concession workers at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center and Long Beach Airport.

Under the motion — which adopts the staff’s “moderate-impact” proposal with a modification — the amended Long Beach Municipal Code (Chapter 16.60) would align convention-center wages with the schedule in Measure RW (the city’s voter-approved hotel/restaurant living-wage schedule) and respect the airport’s existing collective-bargaining agreement timeline. The council also required that temporary workers acquired through staffing agencies become eligible for the wage protections after they accumulate more than 960 hours during a single fiscal year.

City staff told the council the current LBMC minimum for convention-center and airport concession workers is $17.97 an hour; Measure RW sets a higher schedule the city has applied to hotel and restaurant workers in recent years. The staff report noted Measure RW’s schedule would reach $29.50 an hour by July 1, 2028. The council asked the city manager and city attorney to prepare ordinance language to implement the updated schedule and to add compliance and service-charge protections, a CPI adjustment beginning July 1, 2029, and strengthened enforcement clauses.

Staff identified potential fiscal impacts. The convention center currently operates with an approximate $1.8 million annual deficit; staff estimated the option adopted by council would add about $400,000 in FY25 expenses, bringing a projected deficit near $2.2 million. Staff said a broader option that made wages retroactive to July 1, 2024 and covered temporary workers immediately would have a larger fiscal impact (staff estimated that could push the center’s deficit higher by roughly $1 million and reduce airport revenue share by up to $900,000), and could jeopardize a proposed $5.3 million capital investment by a prospective airport concessionaire (Paradies/Paradies Lagardere) that included pre- and post-security improvements timed for the 2028 Olympic Games.

The council’s motion included two implementation clarifications: staff should work with ASM Global (the convention-center operator) and labor partners to support immediate implementation of wages that approximate or exceed the proposed minimum, and temporary staffing agency employees will be eligible for wage protections after accruing 960 hours in a fiscal year (consistent with city practice limiting extended agency use). Councilmembers discussed the timing constraints caused by existing contracts; staff noted the airport concession agreements and convention-center management agreement include contract dates that affect whether the ordinance must be applied immediately or upon contract expiration or amendment.

Unions, worker advocates and several concession employees urged the council to cover temporary and subcontracted workers immediately, warning that excluding them would create an incentive for operators to replace higher-wage direct hires with lower-paid agency staff. Worker groups also asked the council to apply the Measure RW schedule to airport and convention-center workers and to require contractors and staffing subcontractors to meet higher labor standards.

Mayor Rex Richardson and councilmembers said they supported raising wages while balancing contract and fiscal constraints. Councilmember Sarra — the motion maker — said the 960-hour threshold aligns with existing city temporary-worker practice and was intended to avoid creating an incentive to outsource work to avoid higher wages.

Council members voted to request staff draft the ordinance under the moderate-impact scenario with the 960-hour temporary-worker provision and to return with the proposed ordinance for council review and subsequent readings. The motion carried.