Long Beach: UNITE HERE Local 11 members plan to launch a boycott of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, owned by the City of Long Beach, until its operator ASM Global and the city agrees to sign a fair contract that ensures that all workers including subcontracted workers earn a living wage and are treated fairly. The boycott calls for tourists and visitors to choose alternatives for events.

The call for a boycott comes after the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board last week alleging that ASM Global, the primary company that manages and operates the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, unlawfully called the police on picketing workers in retaliation for their protected activity and surveilled workers who were peacefully exercising their legal rights. The complaint names city manager Tom Modica as a representative of the City of Long Beach, which the complaint alleges is a joint employer of the striking Convention Center employees. ASM was recently purchased by Legends which also manages food and beverage operations at Sofi Stadium and the Los Angeles Coliseum.

For months, workers have been seeking to bargain a successor union contract with fair working conditions, voted to authorize a strike and then picketed the Convention Center during Mayor Rex Richardson’s State of the City & the Long Beach State of the Port last week.

The union also filed a public records request requesting all communications between ASM and City departments, including the Office of City Manager Tom Modica, and documents associated with the Request for Proposals for operation of a temporary amphitheater located adjacent to the Queen Mary. Mayor Rex Richardson announced at the State of the City that Legends & ASM had been “identified as the official operator” for that venue. Long Beach city leaders voted in early January to draft an ordinance to revise the minimum wage in a manner that would strip away the rights of subcontracted workers to be covered by the city’s wage law. Workers and community members are calling on the city to reverse this decision.