World Cup Workers Prepare for Strikes in Host Cities

As the World Cup countdown ticks toward 11 June, tension is building far from the pitch. In three US host cities, the workers who will feed, serve and check in fans are preparing for a showdown of their own.

Strikes are on the table. So are the opening matches.

SoFi Stadium on edge before US opener

In Los Angeles, the gleaming SoFi Stadium – set to host the US’s opener against Paraguay on 12 June – is already under pressure, and not from any high press on the field.

Roughly 2,000 hospitality workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 have voted overwhelmingly – 96% – to authorize a strike as they fight for a new union contract. Cashiers, dishwashers, cooks, bartenders, concessions workers and food attendants could walk out at any moment.

“We’re just trying to make things fair,” said Eva Miles, a bartender at SoFi since it opened in 2021. For her, the stadium’s glamour masks a harsher reality. She commutes two hours each way because she can’t afford to live anywhere near the venue. Some of her co-workers, she said, travel even further.

“Without us, they don’t have a stadium. Are they going to cook? Are they going to pour those drinks? Are they going to serve these people?” she said. Workers are pushing for wages above $30 an hour, arguing that the money flowing into the Fifa World Cup should reach the people actually serving the fans.

“Let’s see them live on our wage, let’s see them raise a family,” Miles added. “I know they’re spending a lot of money on this Fifa World Cup, so I don’t understand why we can’t get what we want and everybody be happy.”

Pay is only part of the fight. Unite Here, joined by the ACLU of Southern California and LAANE, has filed a formal complaint with the California privacy protection agency and the state department of justice. At the center of it: Fifa’s accreditation policy, which they say forces workers to disclose immigration information just to be allowed to work the tournament.

For a union whose members come from nearly 200 countries, that requirement cuts deep. Unite Here traces its roots back to the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, led by immigrant textile workers. More than a century later, immigration status still sits at the heart of its battles.

“They experience the effects of anti-immigrant policy and rhetoric every day, and they don’t need the added stress of tracking ICE agents at their workplaces,” said Enrique Fernández, the union’s general vice-president for immigration, civil rights and diversity.

SoFi Stadium declined to comment, directing questions to Legends Global, the concessionaire that employs the workers. In a statement, Legends Global pointed to its long relationship with Unite Here Local 11 and said it “remains committed to reaching a fair agreement through good faith negotiations” while promising an “outstanding hospitality experience” for fans at the World Cup.

For now, that experience depends on whether thousands of workers decide to stay on the job.

Seattle hotel staff push back before six-match slate

The same storm clouds are gathering in Seattle.

Near Lumen Field, where six World Cup games are scheduled, hotel workers at the Embassy Suite Hilton have also voted to authorize a strike. Unite Here Local 8 says about 100 workers are fighting for higher wages, year-round health insurance, staffing improvements and protections from ICE.

“We need the wages to improve,” said front desk worker Hayden Eyerly, pointing out that the hotel has only offered raises of around $0.80 an hour per year under the contract on the table. With the cost of living and gas prices surging, he said, “No one here thinks that is reasonable.”

The pressure isn’t only financial. Eyerly said some workers lose their health insurance during the tourism offseason when their hours are cut, and that staffing still hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The result is a hotel running on fumes.

“Everyone is very tired. Every department has been working on a skeleton crew,” he said. “We’re trying to make real changes, a real positive impact in our lives. We all deserve to work one job, we all deserve to come home and have the energy to be there for our families.”

Many of his co-workers are immigrants. According to Eyerly, their immigration attorney has advised them not to speak publicly, fearing potential retaliation tied to their status.

Hilton, for its part, says it has contingency plans if workers strike. The company insists it is “committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that benefits both our valued Team Members and our hotel.”

Whether those contingency plans ever need to be used will depend on what happens at the bargaining table in the days ahead.

Philadelphia braced for a World Cup strike deadline

On the other side of the country, Philadelphia is staring at its own deadline.

Workers at six hotels represented by Unite Here Local 274 have set 12 June – the same date as the US opener at SoFi – as a strike deadline if new contracts are not in place. Their existing deals have expired, and patience is running short in a city expecting a major World Cup windfall.

Maciah Magloughlin, a server at the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District, said workers want substantial wage increases, a cap of 15 rooms a day for housekeepers, protections from ICE for immigrant staff and more affordable health coverage for dependents.

“The hotels have the money to give us what we deserve,” Magloughlin said, pointing to a projected $770m economic impact for the Philadelphia area from the tournament. “What we’re fighting for is that the people who hold this industry up on their back also get a piece of that, because people are fighting to send their kids to school or take time off or buy groceries, and that’s not fair, especially when we’ve got such a big summer coming.”

The Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District said in a statement that it respects employees’ rights to engage in legally protected activity and is focused on reaching a fair contract. While talks continue, the hotel stressed it remains committed to ensuring guests enjoy their stay.

That promise, like so many others this summer, rests on fragile ground. As the World Cup arrives with its global spotlight and massive revenues, the question hanging over Los Angeles, Seattle and Philadelphia is blunt: will the workers who make the spectacle possible share in its rewards, or will the tournament kick off under the shadow of picket lines?