At a home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in August, a large crowd of Dodgers fans enthusiastically answered the call. This is the team’s eighth annual Union Night celebration, and fans can cheer on the Dodgers while also…
“Who are we?” cried the leather-clad fan.
“Teamsters!” came the reply.
The Dodgers’ marketing strategy targeting blue-collar fans of the Boys in Blue is not hypocritical. The franchise entered into two landmark collective bargaining agreements with Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) in 2023.
Raises for 450 employees, including ushers, security guards, and groundskeepers, were perceived as long overdue, and although organized protests and threats of strikes took place in order for the Dodgers to agree to the contract, the result was a decisive victory for union unity.
These days, franchising no longer stands in the way of another class of employees trying to unionize. The company has entered into an agreement with (IATSE), which represents about 55 tour guides at Dodger Stadium. Most of them are part-timers, and their knowledge is outstanding.
However, ratifying the agreement proved difficult as about half of the guides did not want to unionize. Six guides abstained during the October vote, and the bill failed by a 25-24 margin. Several tour guides who voted against unionizing received no response from The Times, and the Dodgers declined to comment for this article.
Guides supporting the deal have begun a second vote from Dec. 15 to 17, and both sides have been busy in recent weeks lobbying guides deemed uncommitted. Tour guides say the rift is affecting morale at a time when Dodger Stadium tours are more popular than ever and what the Dodgers described as a “strong money-making operation” during union negotiations.
“Demand has increased significantly over the past two years,” said tour guide Cary Ginell. “It’s great for the Dodgers. When I joined in March 2022, the tour cost $25. Now there are no tours that cost less than $42.50. Teams are scraping together money, but none of that money goes to us.”
But even if the union agreement is approved, the fight will not be over, as anti-union guides have already filed a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board to prevent IATSE from representing tour guides.
Both sides accuse the other of dirty tactics to sway voters, but the key issue that divides the groups is quite simple.
The new agreement would increase wages by 25% from $17.87 an hour to $24 an hour, about the same percentage the 2023 agreement did for SEIU-USWW members, with an additional $1 an hour increase in the second and third years of the contract.
Safety measures at stadium entrances will also be improved. Tour guides have complained that fans on tours are allowed to enter the stadium’s top deck, sometimes with backpacks on, without passing through security.
According to a draft CBA obtained by The Times, this lapse would be eliminated. “Employers shall provide and appropriately staff security checkpoints, including metal detectors and bag checks, at all designated entry points for guests entering Dodger Stadium for the purpose of participating in a stadium tour.”
But the unionization could end the Dodgers’ long-standing practice of giving tour guides four reserve-level tickets to each of their 13 homestands during the season. Assuming the ticket value is $50 each, that’s an estimated $2,600 worth of benefits. For many guides, that prospect is a deal breaker.
The Dodgers refused to include free tickets in the union contract, saying other part-time union employees would request similar benefits, according to tour guides who were present during the negotiations. The Dodgers made it clear that they weren’t necessarily cutting the benefits, just that the issue couldn’t be addressed in the deal.
The monetary value of the ticket is more than the pay raise for a tour guide who works a minimum of 60 four-hour shifts a year. But the average tour guide works about 125 shifts, or 500 hours, a year, and the raise means they’ll take home more in pay than the value of their tickets.
Some inexperienced tour guides feel pressure from veteran anti-union guides. Semaj Perry said that during training in March, a respected older guide persuaded him to sign a petition to have his certification revoked. Perry then attended a bargaining session and read the agreement between the Dodgers and the union.
“For some older tour guides, this is more of a status issue than a financial decision,” Perry said. “For some of them, this is something they look forward to in retirement. I took that job because I needed to pay the rent. I will vote yes to join the union.”
Dodger Stadium tours have become increasingly popular due to recent stadium renovations, two consecutive World Series wins, and the signings of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Aki Sasaki, generating more than $1 million in revenue annually.
“The tour program has grown tremendously in the Ohtani era,” said veteran Dodgers tour guide Ray Roker, who was a full-time high school coach and athletic director for nearly 40 years. “Visibility and security responsibilities have increased. It has grown from a private operation with more than a dozen staff guiding the multi-million dollar property to people around the stadium.”
Stadium Tours is now under the management of a recently implemented revenue generation initiative, offering everything from $50,000 for the field to $15,000 for Center Field Plaza to $12,500 for Stadium Club. It debuted at Dodger Stadium in September, where thousands of fans traded and bartered trading cards.
Several veteran tour guides who advocate joining the union say they are perplexed by the suspicion many of their colleagues have toward organized labor, although they acknowledge that giving up free tickets can be an obstacle. The only thing they pretty much agree on is that they love the Dodgers.
“The touring team amplifies the Dodgers’ most valuable asset: their brand, 135 years of history from Brooklyn to Dodger Stadium,” Ginell said of American Music. “It’s a different role than other employees. We delight our fans by telling that history. And that history is what gave the Dodgers a $2 billion price tag.”
Rocard emphasized fairness as a reason why tour guides should vote to approve union representation.
“We must be protected, respected and connected,” he said. “We wanted to be physically and mentally safe, to be paid fairly, and not be treated as second-class citizens.”
