SoFi stadium workers union files complaint over ICE concerns at the World Cup
SoFi Stadium is set to host eight World Cup games this summer Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
A formal complaint has been lodged with the National Labor Relations Board against FIFA and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which accuses the parties of failing to restrict access to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at SoFi Stadium ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
The complaint, filed on Thursday and seen by The Athletic, has been made by UNITE HERE Local 11, a union that represents more than 30,000 workers across hotels, airports and sports arenas in Los Angeles and broader Southern California. This includes 2,000 SoFi Stadium workers, largely working in food and beverage concessions, including cooks, servers and bartenders.
Last week, The Athletic reported that the same union is threatening to lead a strike of workers at SoFi Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Rams in the suburb of Inglewood. It is scheduled to stage eight World Cup matches — five in the group stage, two round-of-32 games and a quarterfinal — including two of the United States men’s national team’s opening three games against Paraguay and Turkey.
The union’s concerns are multifaceted but center on the potential presence of ICE at World Cup cities and venues during the tournament. Union co-president Kurt Petersen described the prospect of a strike as “pretty realistic”, pointing out that the union has a record of following through on its threats. On Thursday, the union also filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees labor relations in the private sector.
The charge, seen by The Athletic, has been jointly filed against stadium operator Legends Hospitality, stadium owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE), World Cup organizer FIFA and On Location, the hospitality provider. It directly names high-profile representatives of KSE and FIFA, including Stanley Kroenke, the founder and owner of KSE, which also owns Premier League soccer club Arsenal, and Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA. Hollywood Park, the KSE-owned entity that encompasses SoFi Stadium, declined to comment, as did Legends and FIFA.
The filing alleges the parties have engaged in and are engaging in unfair labor practices within the National Labor Relations Act.
It claims that within the past six months, Legends — as an agent of FIFA, KSE and On Location — has violated the act by “refusing to commit to restricting facility access by officers from ICE in anticipation of FIFA World Cup events.”
Petersen said last week that the priority item for workers has been ICE. He said: “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. People are nervous. Our members are saying, ‘We’re not going to work if ICE are around, because they could scoop us up.’”
The union complaint made on Thursday alleges the employers have created a work environment “in which employees reasonably fear that engaging in protected concerted activity — including union organizing and collective bargaining — may result in violence and intimidation by ICE personnel, and thus has substantially chilled the exercise of employees’ Section 7 rights under the Act.”
It then asks for an emergency injunction, essentially forcing the parties to restrict access for ICE agents at SoFi Stadium during the World Cup, to be applied to “prevent irreparable harm to employees’ organizing rights.”
Petersen said the union wants the National Labor Relations Board to go to a federal court in Los Angeles to get an injunction to force the employer and FIFA to enact a policy that will restrict ICE from entering the property. The National Labour Relations Board did not respond to a request for comment.
This week, The Athletic revealed that FIFA management has discussed the possibility of Infantino making a direct request to President Donald Trump for a full moratorium on ICE raids across the United States during the World Cup this summer.
ICE acting director Todd Lyons said in February that the organization would play a “key part” in security during the tournament. 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 ICE’s involvement may extend to immigration-enforcement raids close to World Cup events.
The union this month sent a letter to employers of its workers in LA saying that if ICE appeared on the premises of stadiums, airports, event centers and hotels, then the union’s workers would invoke health and safety language and would have the choice to stop working. When ICE did subsequently show up at a hotel, Petersen says his members walked off the job and went home, arguing that they have a right to refuse to work under “unusually dangerous conditions.”
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