Days before the official opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, protesters from the Fair Games Coalition rallied outside the venue in Jedi robes, Jar Jar Binks masks, and lightsabers, according to local reporting of the demonstration. Demonstrators gathered directly across from Exposition Park’s newest museum on a Saturday night during a private opening party to protest museum co-founder Mellody Hobson’s recent resignation from the LA28 Olympic organizing committee, as reported by source accounts.
Labor Demands and Olympic Preparations
The Fair Games Coalition represents a network of over 80 organizations pushing for strict labor protections and economic benefits ahead of upcoming major sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. According to Jessica Durrum, director of the coalition for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, the group launched the campaign with practical targets. “If the Olympics are coming to town, we want to make sure there are lasting benefits for our communities,” Durrum stated in source reports.
The coalition’s participating groups include United Teachers Los Angeles, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, the United Farm Workers, and various community organizations. Ahead of the scheduled international events, these groups are petitioning employers to provide union positions and living wages, funding for 50,000 units of housing for working families, a moratorium on short-term rentals, and stronger safeguards for immigrant workers, based on documented campaign demands.
Worker Perspectives and Rising Living Costs
For service workers in the Los Angeles area, the approaching international competitions heighten anxieties regarding housing affordability and workload. Gladys Avyla, a member of Unite Here Local 11 who has worked as a hotel cleaner in Hollywood for 14 years, stated that escalating rents forced her relocation to Victorville. “Rent is very high, and everything is expensive. It’s hard living here. We need a wage increase for the Olympics because everything costs so much,” Avyla said in Spanish, adding that workers require better treatment.
Gary Bernard Williams of St. Mark United Methodist Church criticized the leadership response. Williams asserted that Hobson’s exit from the 35-person LA28 board—led by Casey Wasserman—serves to shield leadership from direct engagement with labor concerns. “That’s how you hide your head in the sand. But we’re not giving up. She still has clout and still has a lot of power in the city of Los Angeles with the Olympic Committee,” Williams stated.
Did you know? During the recent World Cup games hosted in Los Angeles, Unite Here Local 11 secured a tentative agreement for service workers—including dishwashers, bartenders, and food-service operators at SoFi Stadium—just days before the opening match, aided by support from the Fair Games Coalition.
Institutional Responses and Future Negotiations
Representatives for LA28 and the Lucas Museum did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the demonstration or the specific labor petitions. While Hobson reportedly stepped down from her organizing committee role due to the operational demands of running the billion-dollar museum founded alongside her husband, George Lucas, the Fair Games Coalition maintains that her departure followed direct requests for meetings regarding labor conditions.
Pastor Bridie Roberts, community organizing director at Unite Here Local 11, emphasized the daily financial calculations facing local hospitality and tourism staff. “Our members face serious, critical decisions every single day about how to make ends meet and they work with some of the biggest tourism companies in the world that will profit in the billions of these games,” Roberts noted, emphasizing that working communities must fight to secure tangible outcomes from the events.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Fair Games Coalition?
- The coalition is an alliance of over 80 labor unions and community organizations advocating for worker protections, living wages, and affordable housing ahead of major sporting events in Los Angeles.
- Why did protesters target the Lucas Museum?
- Demonstrators gathered outside the museum’s private opening party to protest museum co-founder Mellody Hobson’s resignation from the LA28 Olympic organizing committee amid ongoing labor negotiations.
- What specific demands are labor groups making?
- Campaign demands include union jobs with living wages, funding for 50,000 housing units for working families, protections for immigrant workers, and a moratorium on short-term rentals.
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