The stadium where the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC all play is now staffed by a majority union workforce.
That wasn’t the case three years ago, when only 17% of Lumen Field staff were unionized.
But now, ahead of the city and stadium hosting six matches of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, many workers have organized. About 80% of the workforce at Lumen now belong to one of a dozen unions representing workers at the stadium.
“ I think all of us saw what happened in Qatar and we wanted to ensure that workers were not being taken advantage of while there was this massive event taking place in our city,” said Katie Garrow, executive secretary-treasurer of the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council.
Garrow said she thinks workers have been motivated to join a union because of a desire to ensure their rights are protected. She said workers are also feeling how expensive it is to live in the region.
“Why shouldn't they get a cut if they're the ones who are producing the events, they're serving the food, they're keeping the event goers safe,” Garrow said.
Some of the priorities Garrow said she heard in bargaining meetings include, securing transportation and parking, and establishing a conflict resolution and grievance process.
During the six matches in Seattle, millions of dollars are projected to be spent in the region as visitors flock to King County. Visit Seattle said that will equate to supporting more than 20,000 jobs in the city, according to an economic analysis by Tourism Economics.
“ There's gonna be a lot of jobs that are created from [the World Cup]; short term jobs in some cases. But a lot of work that's gonna be created and those folks deserve to have a voice in the way that things are handled as well,” said Paul Dascher, the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 117.
Teamsters Local 117 represents hundreds of First & Goal, Inc. workers in parking, guest services, ticketing, admissions, cashiers and valets at Lumen Field. The workers reached their first collective bargaining agreement with the company in December.
Tyrha Long is one Lumen Field employee now represented by the Teamsters. She said this is her fourth Seattle Seahawks season working at the stadium.
Long said she loves interacting with fans, helping them and hearing their stories about coming to see a game.
But, she said some fans get rowdy, to the point where they have to be escorted out of the stadium. Before, Long and her co-workers would have to do that on their own. That made her fearful for her safety.
Through collective bargaining, Long said they were able to codify more support for dealing with rowdy fans, meaning she and her co-workers won’t have to be the ones to escort them out.
Long said she is looking forward to working the World Cup matches this summer.
Plus, with rules on how employees who have been working at the stadium for longer get priority in choosing shifts, Long said she should be able to work more hours, if she needs to.
Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards was not available for an interview, but provided a statement over email in response to inquiries about worker protections during the World Cup.
“A key part of this effort is empowering workers to understand their workplace rights and holding businesses accountable to their responsibilities to comply with Seattle’s labor laws,” wrote Steven Marchese, Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) director.
Marchese went on to write that while the games will create many job opportunities, the increase of those employed temporarily carries a risk of workplace violations, such as not paying employees for overtime or allowing for breaks during shifts.
“OLS is committed to ongoing outreach, education, and enforcement to see to it that labor standards are upheld during and after the event,” Marchese said.
Regarding temporary workers, the Teamsters Local 117 finalized collective bargaining agreement for Lumen Field workers requires the company to negotiate with the union if the company plans to have temporary employees perform bargaining unit work, Dascher said.
There are over 500 employees in the two bargaining units that the Teamsters represent at Lumen Field. The majority of these employees work part time, according to Dascher.
Garrow said unionizing could impact non-unionized workers, too.
“ We tend to see that majority unionized workplaces have far less safety violations, wage and hour violations for the entire workforce, not just for the unionized workers,” Garrow said.
