July 19, 2023 -- The hotel workers union on Tuesday filed a ballot initiative requiring Santa Monica hotels to pay their workers at least $30 per hour, which would make it the highest minimum wage in the nation.

The initiative sponsored by Unite HERE Local 11 would exempt union hotels by allowing the provisions to be waived in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, according to a copy of the initiative.

"Citing the housing crisis, the union is demanding employers pay a living wage so that workers can afford to live near where they work," the union said in a press release issued on Tuesday.

"The proposed law would be the highest minimum wage in the country."

The proposed wage is significantly higher than the City's current minimum wage of $15.96 per hour or the $19.73 minimum wage for hotels and businesses operating on hotel property.

That wage -- which like the citywide wage is adjusted annually for inflation -- matches the City of Los Angeles Citywide Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Rate.

Under the proposed measure, the minimum wage would be increased annually by the percentage increase under the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the LA area or by 5 percent, whichever is greater, through July 1, 2029, when it would be alligned with the CPI.

The proposed initiative also would ensure "reasonable workloads for hotel room cleaners" and prohibit, with certain exemptions, hotel employers from hiring contract workers to clean rooms.

In addition, it would prohibit "hotels...