ATLANTA, Ga.—When the Los Angeles Rams meet the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl at
Mercedes-Benz Stadium here Feb. 3, the players, referees, camera crews, entertainers, and stagehands will all be union members—but none of the concession-stand workers, security guards, or groundskeepers will be. CBS camera crews are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, musicians like featured halftime act Maroon 5 in SAG-AFTRA, and the stage crew from four IATSE locals, three in Georgia and one in New York. But none of the stadium’s full-time staff there are unionized, a spokesperson told Bloomberg Law, and neither are workers at its food and beer concessions, unlike those at the Giants’ and Jets’ stadium in New Jersey. “Organized labor is underrepresented for many operational and concession contracts for the Super Bowl and other events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium,” said Valerie Barnhart of Georgia’s AFL-CIO. Georgia, which bans the union shop, ranks 46th in the nation in union density, with only 4.5% of its workers union members. Many employers misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid labor laws, Barnhart added, and Georgia effectively has no law regulating when a worker should be classified as an employee. Read more
