By Jorge Casuso

August 22, 2025 -- Nearly three dozen local businesses sent a letter to City officials Thursday strongly opposing a proposed ordinance that would require businesses on the City owned Pier to sign labor peace agreements.

The letter warns that the policy, which received the City Council's support on July 8, is "unnecessary and harmful" and comes at "the worst possible time."

"Santa Monica restaurants, hotels and local businesses are struggling with rising costs and customer decline," the letter states. "We have not rebounded since the pandemic and in fact, 2025 has been the hardest year yet."

The letter notes that "tourism is down about 50 percent since 2019" and "many restaurants and hotels report July 2025 revenues are worse than in July 2020, which was the peak of COVID-19 restrictions."

"Most of us are just trying to make it through the summer and keep our people employed," the letter said.

The ordinance would take effect as businesses on the Pier and Ocean Avenue "are bracing for an even steeper drop as the Pier Bridge closes for the next two years" ("City Prepares to Rebuild Pier Bridge," November 1, 2024).

The letter warns that the labor peace agreement will open doors to "national chain corporations" that can absorb the "costs and burdens" of unionization.

"This may be what the union ultimately wants as they would most likely rather unionize a national chain to increase their numbers, but it is not what Santa Monica residents want and would destroy what makes Santa Monica, Santa Monica."

The proposal comes seven years after a similarly pro-labor City Council unanimously shot down a previous measure backed by UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents hotel and restaurant workers, that was floated in 2018 during flush economic times.

"They rejected it due to these very concerns, including the loss of local businesses to national chains, increased vacancies, and the legal peril the policy could pose for the City," the letter said.

"Today, those same concerns are even more urgent, as Santa Monica’s economic conditions have significantly worsened and are even more precarious."

The three Councilmembers who proposed the ordinance in July -- Caroline Torosis, Ellis Raskin and Jessie Zwick -- gave a far rosier picture of the state of business in the City and Pier.

The Pier "is home to restaurants, retailers, amusement rides, and entertainment spaces that together form a vibrant community hub for both residents and visitors," the Councilmembers wrote.

"In 2023 alone, Santa Monica welcomed 4.6 million visitors, generating $938 million in local spending and supporting over 7,100 jobs."

The Councilmembers, however, failed to note that the number of visitors and dollars spent had plummeted from 8.4 million visitors and $1.89 billion spent in 2019, before the coronavirus shutdown in March 2020.

Those numbers dipped further last year, according to a report released by Santa Monica Travel and Tourism (SMTT) ("Fall in Domestic Visitors Cushioned by Global Travel," June 16, 2025).

Thursday's letter notes the Council directed staff to draft the ordinance "without public discussion, stakeholder engagement, any data supporting this issue as a systemic problem or an independent economic analysis."

The Chamber of Commerce, which was a vocal critic of the 2018 proposal, was not among the business groups that signed Tuesday's letter.