Overview
- Unite Here Local 11 members voted 96% in favor of a strike authorization on Friday, giving roughly 2,000 SoFi hospitality workers the option to walk off the job ahead of the stadium’s June 12 World Cup match.
- Workers are pressing for major raises to more than $30 an hour, protections against automation and subcontracting, and an explicit right to stop work if federal immigration agents enter the venue.
- A central sticking point is FIFA’s accreditation process, which asks for sensitive data such as Social Security numbers and fingerprints and prompted a joint complaint by the union and the ACLU asking California officials to investigate.
- Legends Global says a contingency staffing plan exists but any replacement hires must pass FIFA’s credential checks and training, and the Department of Homeland Security says HSI agents will support event security rather than conduct civil immigration enforcement at matches.
- The vote raises the real prospect of service disruptions for eight World Cup games at SoFi and could set leverage for other Los Angeles mega‑events, while immigrant workers face immediate safety and privacy concerns if an agreement is not reached.