WGAW members stand in solidarity with tourism workers calling for an “Olympic Wage.”
When Meghan Crumley heard a call for WGAW members to join a rally at City Hall in December to support members of another union, she wasn’t sure what she was getting herself into.
She answered the call anyway. Because, you know, solidarity.
“I’m very thankful for both my unions and always happy to show up when I can,” said Crumley, who also works as a script supervisor and is a member of IATSE Local 871.
The rally that drew Crumley and other WGAW members to City Hall on Dec. 11 was in support of raising the minimum wage for tourism workers. The City Council passed legislation instructing City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto to draft language that will increase the minimum wage for tourism workers to $30 an hour by July 2028, just in time for the Summer Olympics.
The effort to increase the minimum wage is spearheaded by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). The organization has partnered with UNITE HERE! Local 11—which represents hotel and food service workers—and SEIU-USWW, representing workers at LAX, to help facilitate legislation that will raise wages for workers.
LAANE has played a key leadership role in forming the Tourism Rising Coalition, which features more than 100 organizations including organized labor, faith-based organizations, Democratic clubs, and elected officials. The coalition also includes more than 300 small businesses.
“Having the support of other unions makes such a difference,” said Living Wage Campaign Director Jessica Durrum, a member of LAANE’s leadership team and the organization’s deputy director of policy and campaigns. “Having this broad show of solidarity really does help move our decision-makers, and it shows them that their constituents support this. For our supporters, it helps prop them up.”
The minimum wage increase for tourism workers—referred to by supporters as the Olympic Wage—will climb steadily over the next three and a half years and include additional compensation to cover healthcare. Many WGAW members work in the tourism industry between writing jobs to make ends meet.
Having this broad show of solidarity really does help move our decision-makers.
- Jessica Durrum
“There’s not just the sheer solidarity, but also the direct experience of knowing what these jobs are like and how important it is to have good wages and health care,” Durrum said.
Tucker Cawley also heeded the call from fellow WGAW member Mike Royce and other members active with the Guild’s Solidarity Committee to head downtown in support of hospitality workers. The Solidarity Committee, which mobilizes members to attend actions held by other unions, emerged after the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
For Cawley, showing up for the tourism workers was both paying back a favor and paying it forward. He remembers seeing hotel workers walking picket lines during WGA’s 2023 strike. He said seeing members of other unions join alongside the writers during those challenging days in 2023 “put the wind in our sails.”
“It meant so much to have other unions come and show their support for us and what we were trying to do,” Cawley said. “What’s important to remember is that, ultimately, we’re all fighting against corporations that loom over us, and in that way, we are not so dissimilar.”
WGAW member Kashana Cauley said that supporting the members of SEIU-USWW and UNITE HERE lined up with her values.
“It felt really good to be out there on the streets standing in solidarity with my union members trying to make a difference in our lives,” said Cauley whose father was a UAW worker in Wisconsin. “I have missed that feeling and that sense of purpose, and I wanted to feel it again. So that’s why I went down to City Hall. I had missed standing in solidarity for what I consider to be a good cause. I like to support causes, but I like to have skin in the game.”
In addition to her time in the Guild, Meghan Crumley has worked union and non-union as a script supervisor. She much prefers the former.
“It’s so striking to me how much better it is when you’re unionized,” Crumley said.
Crumley shared how much of a morale booster it was to have support while striking in 2023. She added that she walked away from the December rally in support of tourism workers feeling inspired. The act of solidarity fired her up and raised her spirits.
“I walked away getting so much from it,” she said.
Check out the interview with LAANE’s Executive Director Víctor Sánchez on the Guild’s 3rd & Fairfax podcast.
9/24/2024 • Evan Henerson
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