With less than two months before SoFi Stadium hosts its first FIFA World Cup match, the stadium’s food service workers are threatening to strike.
Unite Here Local 11, a hospitality worker union, said in an April 6 letter that a collective bargaining agreement covering 2,000 cooks, bartenders, dishwashers and servers at the Inglewood stadium has expired.
“We have serious and growing concerns about whether workers and Angelenos will be treated fairly and share meaningfully in the economic benefits of this tournament,” Kurt Petersen, the union co-president, wrote in the letter addressed to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and SoFi owner Stan Kroenke.
The union outlined demands covering immigration enforcement, working conditions and affordable housing. Petersen wrote that union members will defend themselves by any means, “up to and including a strike.”
Petersen also wrote that the union worries that On Location — the food and beverage company FIFA is bringing into the stadium for the World Cup — will not honor any collective bargaining agreement between the union and Legends Global, SoFi Stadium’s regular food and beverage vendor.
The LA Local has reached out to SoFi Stadium, FIFA, the city of Inglewood, Legends Global and On Location for comment.
Maria Hernandez, the union’s spokesperson, told The LA Local in an email Monday that they’ve received no response from FIFA, SoFi, or Inglewood city officials to their April 6 letter, but “negotiations (are) ongoing and workers are ready to keep fighting for what they deserve.”
In March, the union warned employers that its members could refuse to work if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up at or near a workplace.
“The union considers the presence of ICE or Border Patrol on the property or in the immediate vicinity of a signatory employer to constitute unusually dangerous conditions,” leaders wrote in the March 23 letter.
Petersen wrote in his April 6 follow-up that FIFA and Kroenke should demand ICE plays no role in the World Cup. FIFA executives are considering asking President Donald Trump to suspend ICE raids during the tournament, according to The Athletic.
The union also asked that FIFA and Kroenke back a range of union campaigns, including for a hospitality workforce housing fund, a moratorium on short-term rentals and an Overpaid CEO Tax ballot initiative in Inglewood and LA.
