UPDATED, SEPT. 14, 10:41 A.M.: Members of the union that represents 400 stadium ushers, janitors, ticket takers and ticket sellers voted to ratify a new contract with the Angels, averting a strike as the Major League Baseball season nears the end.
The Angels had sought a wage freeze for those workers, but under the pact they will get a series of raises that begin immediately, playoff bonuses and a promise by management to ensure fair scheduling for workers with seniority, according to the Service Employees International Union.
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Under the pact, the stadium employees get a 25-cents-an-hour increase immediately, another 25-cents raise for the 2013 season and a 30-cents boost for 2014. Even with the first raise, Angel Stadium janitors make $11.97 an hour compared to $15.15 earned by janitors at Oakland Coliseum, which is where the Halos cap a three-game series this afternoon.
Speaking of three games, now Angel management can concentrate fully on that gap between first-place Texas and the American League West pennant. Not so for the Angels food service contractor, Aramark, which continues its negotiations with Unite Here Local 11, which represents 800 Big A food and beverage workers. That union's members also authorized a strike.
ORIGINAL POST, SEPT. 7, 1:05 P.M.: Late last month, about 800 food service workers at Angel Stadium joined
400 ushers, janitors, ticket takers and ticket sellers in authorizing
a labor strike as the Major League Baseball season winds down.
Today there are indications the latter group of stadium workers has reached a tentative agreement with Arte Moreno's franchise that would avert picketing and a work stoppage.
The Orange County Register reports that officials from the Angels and the Service Employees International Union representing ushers, janitors, ticket takers and ticket sellers have each confirmed a deal is on the table. However, SEIU wants to discuss the pact with its members before scheduling a vote, possibly as soon as next Tuesday.
Unite Here Local 11, which represents the food and beverage workers who dole out beer and hot dogs at the stadium, is negotiating with the Aramark food service company. Membership has authorized a strike over frozen wages and disappearing benefits, but the union has not yet called for a strike.
Both unions held informational picketing at the stadium last Friday.
The regular season ends Sept. 28.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.