38 in Union Arrested During Sit-In
Thirty-eight members of a hotel and restaurant employees union were arrested for trespassing Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where they briefly camped out to protest a lingering contract dispute with the center’s food concessionaire.
Singing and blowing whistles, members of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 11 staged a sit-in at the convention center’s Galaxy Restaurant.
The union represents cooks, waiters and other food service workers at the convention center.
The workers complained that their labor contract with the concessionaire, Ogden Food Services, expired nearly a year ago and that negotiations for a new one have stalled.
Officials for Ogden and the convention center were unavailable for comment.
Police, who were aware of the planned demonstration, said the protesters were peacefully arrested after disobeying officers’ warnings to disperse from the restaurant’s entrance.
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