Inter Miami striker Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a penalty during the League Cup soccer match in Dallas. Messi and the rest of the soccer team were supposed to stay at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica, where workers are on strike, but the team has moved to another hotel. (Logan Riely/Getty Images)
Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi and other players from the Inter Miami team were scheduled to stay at a hotel in Santa Monica, where workers are on strike this weekend. But Unite Here Local 11 said Friday that the team is canceling its reservation because the union is pushing Messi to respect a boycott of about 60 Southern California hotels that have not signed labor contracts.
Messi travels to BMO Stadium this Sunday for a game against LAFC. Tickets for Sunday’s game skyrocketed when it was announced this summer that Messi would be moving to Inter Miami.
Messi was originally scheduled to check into the Fairmont Miramar on Friday afternoon, said Unite Here Local 11 spokeswoman Maria Hernandez.
The hotel is among 13 hotels where union members walked off their jobs on Wednesday. That means the soccer players, all members of the MLS Players Assn. union, would have had to cross another union’s picket lines to stay at the Fairmont.
The football players’ union released a statement on Friday afternoon welcoming Inter Miami’s decision to change hotels.
“The MLSPA is proud to stand with striking workers at the Fairmont Miramar and other LA area hotels,” the association said a social media post. “We call on all hotels to conclude fair contracts with their employees as quickly as possible.”
Inter Miami representatives Molly Dreska and Rafael Cabrera and Fairmont Miramar human resources director Ashley Eberhard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Read more: How much do tickets cost to see Lionel Messi and Inter Miami play LAFC? Try $96,000
“The housekeepers, cooks, bellmen and waiters of the Fairmont Miramar thank the great Lionel Messi and his teammates for agreeing to leave the hotel and stand alongside the striking workers,” the union said Friday afternoon in an explanation.
The day before, Unite Here Local 11 publicly called on Messi and his teammates to “stand in solidarity with us and stay away from the Fairmont Miramar.”
The story goes on
“Just two weeks ago, workers at the Fairmont Miramar called for a boycott of their hotel after hotel security officers were videotaped violently attacking their own employees as they attempted to set up a picket line.” the union had said.
Violent clashes broke out at the picket line outside the Santa Monica hotel, leaving workers injured. Security personnel pushed and attacked striking hotel workers who apparently attempted to cross a makeshift barricade following a rally by striking workers in early August Video material of the incident.
The union and local elected officials in recent weeks have sharply criticized the Fairmont and several other properties in Los Angeles and Orange County where there has been violence against strikers.
Read more: “Take your union and push it through.” When your LA hotel stay comes with a striking picket line
The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 7, citing a pattern of violent incidents and property damage. The complaint named three hotels – including the Fairmont Miramar – where it was alleged that management condoned or turned a blind eye to attacks on workers.
Shortly thereafter, the union called for a boycott of the Fairmont Miramar as well as the Hotel Maya in Long Beach and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point, the other two hotels named in the complaint. The boycott has since expanded to include numerous other hotels that have negotiated with the union and failed to reach an agreement.
Keith Grossman, an attorney at Hirschfeld Kraemer who represents a coalition of 44 hotels involved in talks with Unite Here Local 11, said Monday that the union’s call for a boycott of city visitors and conventions and small businesses Congresses are instructed to do harm.
When asked for comment on Inter Miami’s decision, Grossman reiterated his concern that a boycott could cause long-term damage to the city’s reputation.
“These efforts by the Union regarding Messi and his team are just another senseless effort by the Union to keep business away from L.A. hotels,” Grossman said in an email. “It is unfortunate for our employees and for the city that Local 11 is focused more on its political agenda than on negotiations. We offered the Union negotiation dates and they simply ignored us. They are more interested in strikes and boycotts, which will not help us reach an agreement.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.