Labor union strikes deal to rescue Democratic presidential debate. Here’s how to watch
Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles will go on as planned, according to an announcement on Tuesday from the national party and a local labor union.
UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents 150 workers who prepare and serve meals at Loyola Marymount University, vowed last week to boycott the debate being held at the university after months-long negotiations broke down with Sodexo, LMU’s food services subcontractor.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was the first candidate to say she would not cross a picket line, even if it meant missing the debate. The other six candidates who qualified — Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar — all followed suit within three hours.
Warren joined Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, and LMU workers in Inglewood Tuesday afternoon to announce a tentative deal had been struck between the union and Sodexo, thus allowing the debate to move forward as scheduled.
The debate will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday. It will be televised on PBS, and online live streams will be available through Politico’s website and the PBS NewsHour YouTube channel.
“This is a huge victory for American workers, but it is just the beginning,” Warren said. “When I am president of the United States, we will put more power back in the hands of the people, and the people will get the wages, benefits and respect they deserve.”
Under the tentative three-year agreement, LMU food services workers would get a 25 percent pay raise and have their health care costs cut in half, according to the DNC.
“Sodexo has agreements with UNITE HERE at more than 70 sites across the country, and we are very happy our positive working relationship can continue with improved benefits and wages for our employees on the campus of LMU,” the company said in a statement.
Perez called the deal a “win-win” for the workers and the company and said “every single Democrat running for president understands the importance of the labor movement.”
The DNC had decided last month that it would move the debate from UCLA to Loyola Marymount University following a conflict between UCLA and AFSCME Local 3299. The dispute between Sodexo and UNITE HERE Local 11 marked the second hurdle the party has had to overcome in its efforts to host the first (and perhaps only) California debate.
California voters will play a strong role in selecting the Democratic nominee on March 3, 2020, as the state holds one-tenth of the nation’s delegates. Following Thursday night’s debate in Los Angeles, eligible candidates will participate in debates in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — the four earliest voting states in the country.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 2:47 PM.