Staples Center Food Workers Settle Contract

A tentative settlement has been reached between hundreds of food servers and a major concessionaire at Staples Center, clearing the way for a labor peace accord that has been eagerly sought by planners of the August Democratic National Convention.

The deal, which is expected to be ratified by union members today, gives stand workers a 42% raise over the next 4 1/2 years and extends full family medical insurance to part-time workers.

Coming on the heels of the successful contract fight by Los Angeles janitors, the agreement with Ogden Entertainment is another sign that low-wage workers are demanding, and getting, more from the region’s growing economy.

“It’s great. It feels so good,” said Maria Elena Durazo, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, Local 11, which supported the building of Staples three years ago on the promise that it would be a union-friendly facility.

“Compared to the janitors, our numbers are small, but the momentum of our message is building,” Durazo said. “What we’re trying to do in this city is really good for everybody.” The contract covers about 450 workers. Details were to be released today after a morning ratification vote.

“Everybody’s got a great deal,” said Lon Rosenberg of Ogden Entertainment, which is in the process of being sold to Aramark Corp. “The extended negotiations that took place came up with a deal that will work for everybody. Most of all, the fans are going to benefit because with this contract, we’re going to retain employees for long-term employment.”

Negotiations with Ogden stalled several months ago, which union members highlighted with several demonstrations outside Staples as well as sporadic work stoppages.

It took Staples Center President Tim Leiweke, prodded by Democratic convention planners, to bring both sides back to the table two weeks ago. “We wanted labor peace,” Leiweke said.

As in the janitors’ dispute, several state and local lawmakers, including Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, also made calls on the union’s behalf.

Although one more labor contract covering operating engineers at Staples remains to be settled, the Ogden dispute was viewed by labor leaders, Staples management and convention planners as the last major hurdle to a no-strike accord covering the convention.

Even before details of the Ogden deal were finalized late Wednesday, convention planners were meeting with Miguel Contreras, head of the county labor federation, to talk about their own accord.

“We think we’ll have finalized an agreement very soon,” Rod O’Connor, chief of staff for the Democratic National Convention Committee, said Thursday. “This has been a very positive dialogue with labor, and it has been very helpful to them.”

Contreras agreed that the peace accord was “very close,” but pointed out that all affected unions would have to approve it.

The peace agreement applies only to unions involved in the setup and operation of the event. Labor officials made it clear it would not stop them from organizing large rallies and protests throughout the city at the time of the convention.

Unions are expected to be active this summer, with contracts covering 300,000 members coming up for negotiations. Also, the hotel workers union is launching a well-funded organizing drive aimed at hotels in downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica, including some that may be housing delegates.

Many local unions are taking lessons from the three-week janitors’ strike, which resulted in 25% raises over the next three years.

One lesson for labor: Try to pull into negotiations the owners of buildings where the work is performed. “The more examples that we have of political and business decision makers saying, ‘OK, we can make our profits, we can make this business work, and it doesn’t conflict with workers also having a good standard of living,’ the better,” Durazo said.

The DNC first proposed a formal agreement in October, asking the labor federation to ban union members from striking, picketing or distributing handbills at convention sites “for any reason whatsoever.” The language has been narrowed and now would apply only to convention site employees. The Republicans have had such an agreement in hand for months ahead of their summer convention in Philadelphia.