Ageism Charged by Workers Caught in Sports Arena Plan

About 50 union employees of the San Diego Sports Arena protested a plan to replace them with contract workers, saying it could constitute a “blatant case of age discrimination.”

The Service Employees International Union Local 102, which represents the workers, Wednesday staged a small rally at the Sports Arena to draw attention to its cause.

The employees, including longtime ushers, ticket-takers and novelty salespeople, blame the alleged ageism on the new buyers of the Sports Arena lease, a group led by developer Ron Hahn.

The Hahn group is set to buy the arena lease and the San Diego Gulls hockey team from Harry Cooper for $15.5 million. The San Diego City Council must approve the lease transfer before the deal can be completed.

The Hahn group, which has been involved in labor contract talks involving the employees, has proposed that the group be permanently laid off on or before Nov. 15, and that the arena replace them through a subcontractor.

Hahn’s group plans to contract with StaffPro Inc. to provide the arena with ushers, ticket-sellers and ticket-takers, as well as all garage and parking operations. StaffPro already provides San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium with its security staff.

Eliseo Medina, president of the local union, said 40% to 50% of the employees set to lose their jobs are more than 50 years old.

“They’re after the young, Disneyland-look types who work cheap,” Medina said. “We believe this is blatant age discrimination.”

Medina said individual employees plan to file age-discrimination charges with state and federal agencies, while the labor union is discussing lawsuits against the management for unspecified labor law violations.

The employees are covered by a labor agreement that has already expired and is subject to cancellation with two weeks notice from either side, according to the union.

The labor union also on Wednesday delivered a letter to San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor urging the City Council not to approve the lease transfer to Hahn until the employee issue is resolved.

Paul Downey, the mayor’s press secretary, said the letter was passed to the city manager, who is in charge of reviewing the lease-transfer issue for the council. He said the council is likely to discuss the issue in late November.