SoFi workers – Thousands of food and service workers at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium voted 96% to authorize a strike, warning they could walk out just one week before the 2026 World Cup kicks off there. They say wages have stagnated since their contract expired last year and th
When the next World Cup crowd arrives at SoFi Stadium, some of the people who make those games possible may not be there.
Unite Here Local 11. the union representing more than 2. 000 cooks. dishwashers. concession workers. bartenders. and servers at SoFi. announced Friday that its members voted 96% in favor of authorizing a strike. The vote came just one week before the stadium is set to host its first World Cup match. placing the union’s bargaining leverage right where it can be most disruptive: the flow of meals. drinks. and day-to-day concessions that keep spectators buying.
The pressure has been building for months. The workers have been without a contract since their previous agreement with stadium operator Legends Global expired last year. They resumed bargaining over a new contract at the beginning of this year. but called for a strike vote in late May. citing a lack of progress on key issues including wages. ICE’s role at the games. and what they describe as the erosion of good jobs through automation and subcontractors.
For Mike Burgh. a bargaining committee member and a catering bartender at SoFi. the dispute comes down to a simple mismatch. “Management ‘raises prices every year for sales. but our wages stay stagnant. ’” Burgh said. adding. “We’re just asking for a respectful cost adjustment. and they’re playing lowball with us.”.
Yolanda Fierro. another bargaining committee member—this one a suites runner—linked the economic fight to the fear she says many workers carry into the stadium. “I’m one of the thousands of workers behind every meal prepared. every drink served. and every guest experience at the World Cup. ” Fierro said in a statement. “Fans from around the world will come expecting an unforgettable event, and we take pride in making that happen. But no worker should have to fear being separated from their family or worry about dangerous ICE activity while simply doing their job.”.
SoFi is set to host eight World Cup matches and is expected to seat 70,000 spectators. The stakes for the union are amplified by the stakes for the workers themselves. The stadium’s location. near a Home Depot and an El Super grocery store. sits in an area where the union says immigration raids have been frequent. Fierro described how the constant threat of federal immigration agents has hovered over negotiations—an atmosphere sharpened by what workers said happened when federal agents descended on the city last year. prompting hundreds of SoFi workers to stay home.
Workers described watching for suspicious movement in the parking lot and avoiding walking into and out of the stadium alone.
The union’s concerns also reference testimony and warnings from the federal side. In February. then-acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Todd Lyons testified before Congress that ICE would play a “key part” in security at the World Cup. After that. Unite Here Local 11 workers called on FIFA and stadium owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment to commit that ICE and Border Patrol would have no presence at the tournament. warning they were prepared to strike if their demands were not met.
To keep the message in front of decision-makers during the bargaining process. Unite Here Local 11 staged a protest on a Monday morning in May outside the manmade lake just south of the stadium. Workers held “KICK ICE OUT!” signs and inflatable soccer balls as they pressed for concessions ahead of a bargaining session with Legends Global.
At that gathering. Kurt Petersen. a co-president of Unite Here Local 11. said that just the week before. a member had “walked out of a routine courthouse check-in and into an ICE ambush.” Petersen described what he said followed: “His wife begged for freedom because they wanted to take her. too. They put her in an ankle bracelet and let her go. Their 6-year-old and 2-year-old watched their parents terrorized by ICE. All of this for daring to live and work in the city they call home.”.
Petersen later told HuffPost that the member had filed a habeas petition with the help of a lawyer paid for through the union’s legal defense fund. He said he is aware of about a dozen Local 11 members who have been detained by ICE since President Donald Trump returned to office. all of whom have been released with the help of attorneys hired through the union’s legal fund.
For Petersen, the target isn’t only the stadium operator. It is the broader chain of authority over the tournament. “FIFA runs a soccer tournament, not Los Angeles … No one gave FIFA the power to decide who is safe and who is hunted.”
Unite Here Local 11 acknowledges that Legends Global may not be able to restrict ICE activity. But the union sees the World Cup as a rare moment—one where workers’ leverage could force FIFA and the federal government to respond. even if ICE is beyond the stadium operator’s control. The union has warned that the tournament could begin without workers who prepare and sell food and drinks to spectators.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment, but its president, Gianni Infantino, has previously aligned with Trump. The account given here notes that last year Infantino attended Trump’s inauguration. visited the president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. and awarded Trump FIFA’s inaugural “Peace Prize.”.
The federal response has also been shaped by the way DHS describes what it intends to do at tournament sites. A DHS spokesperson said in an email that Homeland Security Investigations special agents “will be present at airports and around FIFA 2026 sites to support security operations” and that “their presence is focused on safeguarding the event and supporting public safety. not checking the immigration status of attendees at event venues.”.
Public opinion appears to reflect skepticism about ICE involvement. A recent Washington Post/University of Maryland poll found that 65% of Americans oppose ICE patrolling stadiums during the World Cup.
As the protest continued, the message turned from fear and bargaining to disruption: workers chanted, “SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN!”
The union is not treating the World Cup as a one-off fight. Workers view their organizing ahead of the tournament as preparation for the 2028 Olympics, set to take place in LA. They argue that mega-events create difficult conditions for working-class people who live in host cities. including increased policing and soaring housing costs.
Some members have already reported hourslong commutes to their stadium jobs because they cannot afford to live in Los Angeles. But they also frame the events as a chance to build leverage.
For SoFi workers. the long-term strategy includes aligning the contract they’re currently negotiating with the expiration date they want—early 2028—so that they can coordinate with major Los Angeles unions and create a city-wide strike threat ahead of the Olympics. “The hotels, the sporting events, we’re all lined up,” Burgh said.
Petersen pointed to what happened last time the union tried to apply pressure on a major scale. In 2023, Unite Here Local 11 launched rolling hotel strikes throughout Southern California. During negotiations to settle the strikes. employers offered an additional $3 per hour if the union agreed to a post-Olympics expiration date. Petersen said that, during those talks, leadership unanimously rejected that proposal. “We took it to our leadership; they unanimously said no, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Petersen said. “Our members get it.”.
In Seattle, which is hosting six World Cup matches, unionized hotel workers represented by Unite Here Local 8 authorized a separate strike on Friday—also pushing for better pay, healthcare coverage, and protections from ICE.
For SoFi, bargaining is scheduled to continue on Monday. With the contract still not in place after its expiration last year. and the strike authorization vote now locked in. the union’s next move will land at a critical point in the World Cup countdown—when the difference between staffing and silence could become obvious to fans minutes after kickoff is announced.
SoFi Stadium Unite Here Local 11 strike authorization World Cup 2026 ICE Homeland Security Investigations Legends Global Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Gianni Infantino Todd Lyons Los Angeles unions 2028 Olympics