The union which represents more than 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium has broken off negotiations with the stadium operators and plans to hold a strike vote next week ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
UNITE HERE Local 11 represents workers at the venue who largely work in food and beverage concessions, including cooks, servers and bartenders.
The group’s preparedness to call a strike vote was first reported by The Athletic in early April. The potential strike action threatens to impact eight World Cup matches at the venue, which is the home of the NFL’s two Los Angeles teams, the Chargers and the Rams. SoFi will host the opening World Cup match in the United States, when the USMNT plays Paraguay on June 12.
The previous bargaining agreement between the union and the stadium’s operator, Legends Global, has expired. Multiple bargaining sessions, held at the venue, have now failed to reach agreements, leaving FIFA at ongoing risk of a strike. In an interview with The Athletic, the union’s co-President Kurt Petersen said they broke off negotiations with Legends on Tuesday lunchtime.
“We felt the company (Legends) were not taking the concerns and demands seriously enough,” Petersen said. “At midday (Tuesday), the workers told the company that we intend to proceed with a strike vote. The vote is scheduled for next week over two days on Thursday and Friday.”
The union vote was confirmed in a formal statement Friday morning.
Among its key concerns, the union has called on FIFA to make a public commitment that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will not be permitted at World Cup venues during the World Cup, which has not been forthcoming. The union says this request is necessary in order to avoid safety risks to its workers. In a series of demands made to FIFA and the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (the stadium owners) in April, the union also wants restrictions on the use of subcontractors operating at SoFi, while also requesting that FIFA not permit any artificial intelligence or automation at the arena, which may eliminate otherwise union jobs.
Petersen says all those concerns remain, while also claiming that Legends has even been unable to show his union the contract between itself and FIFA’s hospitality provider, OnLocation.
“This means they cannot tell us what time people will start work, how long the shifts would be, how service charge will be allocated or how tips will be distributed,” Petersen said. “This is all on top of previously expressed concerns about ICE, where FIFA has not stepped in any meaningful way.”
He also said Legends has failed to address “bread-and-butter” concerns about pay.
“The company (Legends) is suggesting an extra 25 cents here or there, rather than movement in dollars, which feels like a throwback to 2005 rather than being in 2026,” Petersen added. “This is the most profitable stadium in Los Angeles, so these folk need to get serious in sharing how this revenue is distributed to the workers who help to make the experience possible for visitors.”
Should the vote lead to a strike, a union committee would then decide when and where it is called.
“Our members are clear,” Petersen said. “They are angry about this. We recognize the World Cup is an extraordinary event but the lack of transparency and movement is raising concerns and this could impact the 2,000 food service workers at the stadium.
“If we were to strike, then FIFA has a significant problem because other workers may not be accredited, which is a whole process for them requiring background checks a while in advance and would not be straightforward to rush through.”
The union has a demonstrable track record of following through on its threats to strike. It represents more than 30,000 workers across hotels, airports and sports arenas in L.A. and broader Southern California. Its hotel workers in L.A., Orange County and the neighboring state of Arizona went on strike more than 175 times between July 2023 and July 2024, due to complaints that their wages did not rise in line with housing costs.
Over the past month, the union has sought to escalate its displeasure both with FIFA and Legends.
The Athletic reported in May that the union filed a complaint with the attorney general of California. This alleged that data sharing in FIFA’s accreditation process for workers at SoFi Stadium represents a “serious intrusion” into the right to privacy and violates worker rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
The complaint, seen by The Athletic, was accompanied by a letter addressed to California attorney general Rob Bonta. It was co-signed by UNITE HERE, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU) and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.
The letter alleges that FIFA’s sharing of sensitive private information with local, regional and federal government authorities for the purpose of background checks on workers has the potential to put employees at risk of being targeted by ICE. The filing said employees were required via their accreditation to consent to the “collection, use and disclosure” of sensitive personal data, as defined by FIFA.
“Workers feel duped by the accreditation forms into having provided excessive personal information which FIFA now have in their hands,” Petersen said.
SoFi workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 11, protesting in April. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)
The union filed a separate complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in April. This accused stadium operator Legends Hospitality, stadium owner KSE, World Cup organizer FIFA and On Location, FIFA’s hospitality provider, of a violation of the National Labor Relations Act by “refusing to commit to restricting facility access by officers from ICE in anticipation of FIFA World Cup events.”
Back in April, The Athletic asked Petersen whether a World Cup strike was truly on the table, or posturing to drive up bargaining positions.
“At this point, it is pretty realistic,” Petersen insisted. “The contract has expired. So we have the ability to do whatever we want, including striking.
“Working people are barely getting by. Most of our members work two jobs. They’re the backbone of the industry that’s going to make FIFA prosperous. FIFA, despite our attempts to engage with them, have basically ignored our demands.
“There’s going to be a lot of pressure to make sure the games are successful. But successful for us means that games succeed for everyone. Somebody needs to stand up and say, ‘No, that’s not how the World Cup should be done.’
“Our members, the people who cook the food, pour the beer and prepare the suites, are the ones who are willing to say, ‘Enough is enough. We think we deserve more.’ People believe that these mega-events, like the World Cup, are not here to benefit normal people. If it’s food service workers at SoFi leading the charge, we think people will get behind us.”
In response to the strike vote, a spokesperson from Legends Global told The Athletic: “Legends Global 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.”
Hollywood Park Press, who represent KSE, declined to comment. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.
The local World Cup organizing committee in Los Angeles also said it could not comment, including when asked how the games may be impacted if the strike goes ahead.
Petersen said that the first item his workers wanted to raise in bargaining sessions had been the presence of ICE: “We had a white worker, a Black worker, a brown worker all say this is bad for all of us, and we’re standing together and we’re not going to tolerate having ICE in our stadium. One said, ‘It’s not just us; it’s also our guests and clients. It’s people coming to the games. It’s the players.’”
The role of ICE at the tournament remains hazy. ICE acting director Todd Lyons previously said the organization would play a “key part” in ensuring security during the World Cup. He said ICE’s primary role, as is common at sporting events, would center on Homeland Security investigations, but members of the U.S. Congress have flagged concerns that the involvement of ICE may extend to immigration-enforcement raids close to World Cup events.
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin then told CBS in May that ICE would be focused on counterfeit products, particularly tickets and clothing.
He added: “When they’re at these sporting events, we’re not out there doing immigration enforcement,” he said. “But we are looking for, maybe we have people that shouldn’t be in this country because they’re on terrorist watchlists.”
Yet when CBS then pressed him on the possibility of immigration enforcement, he said: “Well, ICE always says immigration enforcement. We’re always going to do that. But we’re not there for solely that purpose. We’re in there to do our job. We’re not there to go round up mass individuals, but we are always looking for the worst of the worst. We’re going to continue to do that.”
