SoFi Stadium workers to vote on strike days before LA’s first World Cup game

Update (7p.m.): 96% of SoFi workers vote to authorize a strike, meaning workers could walk off the job at any moment if their demands are not met. Negotiations are scheduled to continue Monday.

 A week before the first FIFA World Cup match in the U.S. is set to take place, more than 2,000 SoFi Stadium workers vote on a strike that could severely impact the venue. The first game at SoFi is scheduled for June 12, when the U.S. will play against Paraguay.

The potential work stoppage will come from those managing food and drink services, like bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, concession workers and servers, who are blaming failed contract negotiations. The stadium food service operator, Legends Global, and FIFA have stalled with no significant progress on key economic and security issues.

Eva Miles has been working for SoFi since it opened in 2021. She said that workers like her, in the bartending section, earn minimum wage plus tips. The food operator offers only a $5-per-day raise.

She said she doesn’t want to go on strike and is also excited about the World Cup, but the amount of money the venue is making compared to the salaries of the employees — who are the backbone of the stadium — is insulting. 

“We live in a city and a state that's very expensive and a lot of us drive a lot of hours to get here; a lot of miles. And we love our job… and we're good at it, but we need to be compensated for our work,” she said. “We make [upper management] shine, we make them and the stadium look good and if it wasn't for all of us — your cooks, your servers, your runners, your attendants, your bartenders — you wouldn't have a stadium.”

The workers have reported that during the World Cup, SoFi Stadium is offering individual suite packages priced at more than $100,000. Additionally, tickets for the U.S. v. Paraguay game start at $985 and go up to $6,500 in Ticketmaster. 

Meanwhile, according to UNITE Here Local 11, the union representing the workers, Legends Global's most recent proposal included wage freezes for some suite attendants and bartenders, and 25-cent-an-hour annual increases for cooks and dishwashers.

Asking for protection

Among their demands to avoid a strike, workers are also asking for safety protections from immigration enforcement activity in the workplace and job protections against subcontracting and automation. If the strike is authorized, workers could walk off the job at any moment if their demands are not met. 

For days, the workers have expressed concern about FIFA’s request for their personal information and the possibility that it could be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Since FIFA will control stadiums hosting World Cup games, stadium workers must be accredited through a process that requires them to submit information, including Social Security numbers and fingerprints.

They said they can’t celebrate the most-watched event in the world while workers, tourists, immigrant families and local communities feel unsafe. 

“We even have workers that are afraid because they just don't want to have anything happen, even if it happens by mistake, it's going to interrupt everything. And it's not fair to their family and it's not fair to us and it's not fair to the players,” Miles said. 

Filing a complaint

UNITE Here Local 11, in conjunction with the ACLU of Southern California, has filed a complaint with the state calling on Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the accreditation process.

“We have been very clear, we want ICE OUT of the World Cup and for them to play no role during the games,” Yolanda Fierro, a suites runner at Sofi Stadium, said in a statement late last month. “We are seriously concerned that FIFA will hand over our most sensitive personal information and waive our rights under California law, or lose our job working the World Cup. We will not give FIFA the opportunity to share our data with any third party, including ICE and foreign countries' intelligence agencies. 

While the deadline to vote is Friday at 6 p.m., the union board will still meet over the weekend and the final voting results may be announced by Monday. Everything could also change if they hear back from SoFi with a fair agreement. 

Legends Global spokeswoman Stacey Escudero told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week the company “has enjoyed a strong relationship with Unite Here Local 11 for more than a decade and remains committed to reaching a fair agreement through good-faith negotiations. We look forward to delivering an outstanding hospitality experience for fans at the FIFA World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium.''

With CNS information.