Union leader: Boycott of LA debate shows ‘workers have to be front and center’

The union behind the boycott of this week’s presidential debate says the demonstration proves that workers have to be “front and center” in the Democratic primary race.

“It shows where we’re at in a moment right now and that workers have got to be front and center,” Ada Briceno, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, who represents striking workers, said in response to the boycott.

“We represent women and immigrant workers who make the money for these large, multimillion corporations, so it was very refreshing to see that all candidates stood strong,” she added.

All seven 2020 Democratic candidates have threatened to skip Thursday’s debate in Los Angeles due to a contract dispute between union workers at Loyola Marymount University and food services company Sodexo. But Briceno suggested that both sides could reach a deal just in time for the event.

Briceno said the union is scheduled to resume negotiations on Tuesday, adding that while she is optimistic about a deal, she emphasized that workers are prepared to take to the picket lines outside of the debate at Loyola Marymount University.

Unite Here Local 11 represents 150 cooks, dishwashers, cashiers and servers associated with the university.

As the labor dispute intensified last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the 2020 field’s progressive heavyweights, were among the first to jump into the fray and say they would boycott the event.

They were soon joined by former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), and businessmen Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro also expressed his solitary, though he did not qualify for the Dec. 19 debate.

The Unite Here Local 11 labor union has asked the candidates not to cross the picket line amid the dispute, which erupted after Sodexo canceled contract negotiations with the union for a collective bargaining agreement.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC), meanwhile, issued a statement saying that it is trying to find a solution.

“While LMU is not a party to the negotiations between Sodexo and Unite Here Local 11, Tom Perez would absolutely not cross a picket line and would never expect our candidates to either,” spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa told The New York Times, referring to the DNC’s chairman.

This is not the first labor dispute to threaten Thursday’s debate. In November, the debate had been moved to Loyola Marymount University from the University of California, Los Angeles due to a separate labor dispute.

— Tess Bonn