Workers at Los Angeles stadium hosting World Cup matches reach tentative agreement after authorizing strike

The union representing workers at SoFi Stadium, the Los Angeles-area arena hosting the FIFA World Cup, has reached a tentative agreement with operators at the stadium after voting overwhelmingly last week to authorize a strike — and just days before the venue is scheduled to host its first of several matches. The deal, reached Monday night with Legends Hospitality, will be ratified this week, Unite Here Local 11 said on X on Tuesday. The union, which represents nearly 2,000 cooks, dishwashers, bartenders and concession workers at SoFi, said it will share details of the agreement once it is ratified. “We are proud to say that we won every major issue we brought to the table. And even more, we preserved the right to strike over safety,” the union said on X. It added that “workers have the contractual right to walk off the job if the Union determines in good faith that federal immigration enforcement threatens worker safety during a World Cup match.” NBC News has reached out to the union for further information about the tentative agreement. At a news conference Tuesday, workers represented by the union said they were seeking pay increases, protections against subcontracting and job security — especially amid heightened immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration, The Associated Press reported. “This is a very proud moment for all of us,” Yolanda Fierro, a suite runner at the stadium, said Tuesday, according to AP. “We really want to secure the safety of all our employees.” The decision comes after the union voted 96% in favor to authorize a strike last week. The vote was held over two days ending Friday, according to a press release. The union members have been working for a year without a contract. The vote came as negotiations with stadium food-service operator Legends Global and FIFA stalled on key issues — salary increases and safety protections against ICE activity at the stadium during the World Cup, the union said. A strike could have endangered the highly anticipated upcoming games. SoFi Stadium will host eight games, including the U.S. Men’s National Team’s opening game against Paraguay on June 12. The union has asked FIFA and the stadium that ICE not be allowed in the stadiums over worker safety concerns, to no avail. Workers told NBC News last month they won’t show up to work if ICE is present. “Sometimes ICE goes off a person’s profile,” Isaac Martinez, a 38-year-old cook and shop steward, previously said. “If I look Mexican, Latino … we are a city that’s full of Latin communities. We’ve seen what happened in Minneapolis, Chicago and here in Los Angeles. So there’s real fear.” The union also filed complaints last month with the California Privacy Protection Agency and the California Justice Department over FIFA’s World Cup accreditation process, which they said collected stadium workers’ sensitive personal information including nationality, addresses and country of birth. The status of the complaints was not immediately clear. Hosting the World Cup will certainly be lucrative for the stadium and the greater area. Los Angeles County is projected to generate $594 million in economic impact from the influx of an estimated 180,000 visitors, according to the Los Angeles FIFA World Cup 26 Host Committee. The city of Inglewood, where SoFi is located, is also projected to see economic gains exceeding $17 million. NBC News reported in May that federal officers and agents who arrest immigrants as part of their work with ICE may be at World Cup matches. The Department of Homeland Security has said it’s offering personnel to local police departments and federal agencies to provide extra security around the perimeters of games, similar to its role at the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby, two DHS officials said, noting that ICE officers and agents providing security won’t be checking spectators or employees for immigration status. Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts previously told NBC News that ICE has offered resources from a “public safety perspective,” but he had no information “suggesting that ICE is going to be present in an immigration enforcement capacity.”