City Council is considering a bill to raise wages and boost benefits for stadium workers

City Council President Kenyatta Johnson introduced a bill Thursday to raise wages and boost health benefits for stadium workers, as the debate around the Philadelphia 76ers’ proposed arena brings fresh attention to the industry.

The legislation establishes an hourly pay rate of $20.07 and requires an additional hourly wage supplement of $4.93 for health insurance or other benefits. Over 2,000 workers would be affected.

“We have the data that shows that we should be elevating our concession stand work as we address the issue of poverty here in the city of Philadelphia,” said Johnson. He said that his staff had compared the wages and benefits at other large city stadiums in the Northeast with those of Philadelphia and that the local compensation package was the weakest.

The bill would tweak the city’s prevailing wage law, which historically only covered construction workers but has been amended to include service workers, most recently several thousand airport employees in 2021. In 2016, Council also passed similar legislation for janitorial workers at the stadiums at the behest of SEIU 32BJ.

The effort comes amid labor strife at the stadium district in South Philadelphia, where Unite Here Local 274 has been locked in contentious contract negotiations with Aramark, the company that staffs the stadiums concessions. The union’s contracts with Aramark expired in March. A four-day strike earlier this autumn at Citizen’s Bank Park sought to raise awareness around the Phillies playoff run.

Aramark is “exploring all options to vigorously oppose this bill given the negative impact the proposed legislation would have on the teams, the fans, and our operations,” Chris Collom, Aramark’s vice president of corporate communications, said via email.

“The union leadership continues to take actions that are counterproductive to good faith bargaining, and our hardworking employees — the majority of whom voluntarily crossed the picket line during the union’s last intermittent strike — are the ones who will suffer most from the additional delay in reaching a new contract,” he said.

Stadium workers packed the Council chambers Thursday to testify in favor of the legislation, describing how they have to work multiple jobs to earn a living and afford benefits.

“These stadium jobs are all on city-owned land,” said Rosslyn Wuchinich, president of Local 274. “This body has [previously] taken steps to make sure that the city uses its power as a landholder and as a contractor to set minimum wage and benefit requirements. ... Stadium food service and retail workers should be no exception.”

Wuchinich also placed the legislation in the context of the new arena proposed by the Sixers at 10th and Market Streets. The team has boasted of the permanent jobs — not just construction work — that would be created by the proposal, but Unite Here representatives argued that would mean little if the employment was accompanied by low pay and few, if any, benefits.

After the session, Johnson was asked whether the legislation might secure Local 274′s support for the arena.

“That’s up to the workers,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we want to make sure that in terms of the new arena, we’re supporting good paying jobs.”

There is no guarantee that if the arena moves forward, the Philadelphia 76ers would contract with Aramark. But the bill would guarantee a wage and benefit floor for all stadiums in the city, even if the market fragments.

The 76ers did not immediately provide comment on the matter.