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Organized labor puts the heat on Inglewood NFL stadium
Construction continues at Hollywood Park in Inglewood on Monday, March 9. Re-development plans of the 238-acre site include housing, retail space, offices and a hotel.
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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The powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is gathering signatures in Inglewood to put the city's NFL stadium – approved by the city council last month – to a public vote.
Stadium developers have already pledged to use organized labor to build the stadium, but the petition appears to be a move to force them to sign an agreement that says they will not only use union workers in construction, but also during operation.
"We all learn at some point in time in our lives that if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist," said Rusty Hicks, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. "The developer is saying all the right things, and we are in conversation with them now, but there are no written agreements."
Chris Meany, senior Vice-President of the Hollywood Park Land Development Company, expressed bafflement at the federation's petition.
"The initiative specifically states that all of the construction jobs for the stadium, performance venue, retail and office space will be union," Meany said in a statement. "We also have agreements regarding labor with other important local unions. We are proud of our commitment to union labor for construction, anticipate long-term union jobs after construction, and also underscore the fact that local hiring provisions for the project will bring new opportunities to Inglewood residents and businesses."
Signing a deal that covers the stadium once it's up and running is no small detail, especially for unions that are desperately trying to stay relevant. Hicks says thousands of jobs are at stake in positions ranging from ushers, to janitors, to security guards.
The Los Angeles Times reports stadium developers are fighting back against the signature-gathering drive, which would require 6,000 signatures to be submitted by March 25;
Sponsored message
In response to the union's signature-gathering effort, which started Feb. 24, Citizens for Revitalizing the City of Champions, a group funded by Kroenke and the developers, circulated an email warning recipients not to sign “the anti-stadium petition” by “outside special interests backing competing stadium plans.”
“Their goal is to first delay and then stop the project completely,” the email said.
But Hicks says organized labor has nothing against the Inglewood project specifically. The difference is that the city's stadium is the most far along, with construction set to begin in December.
"Everyone's obviously at different stages here," said Hicks. "This same request will be made to any of those owners or operators."
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