Protests outside the skyscraper that houses the National Hockey League\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n
A large group of workers from UBS Arena, which is home to the New York Islanders hockey team, made their demands heard, including a push for better wages.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Protests outside the skyscraper that houses the National Hockey League\u2019s headquarters
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A large group of workers, including cooks, dishwashers and others in hospitality, represented by UNITE HERE Local 100, say its ongoing labor dispute with Delaware North, which operates concessions at UBS Arena, continues
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Union leaders say UBS Arena workers have been working without a contract since October 2025. Also, because of the rising cost of living in the city, they are demanding a bigger raise than the proposed 0.75-cent wage increase
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The two sides were last at the negotiating table in February<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m making less than I did at other arenas, and I\u2019m probably doing a little bit more work than I did at other arenas,\u201d Agustin Arana, who works at the UBS Arena, said. \u201cThe majority of us are making under $25, and we\u2019re definitely looking to get over that mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arana, who once worked at Madison Square Garden, has been a cook at UBS for about a year. Some of his former co-workers were also at the rally in support.<\/p>\n
The union for food service workers \u2014 UNITE HERE Local 100 \u2014 says its ongoing labor dispute with Delaware North, which operates concessions at UBS Arena, continues.<\/p>\n
The two sides were last at the negotiating table in February.<\/p>\n
Union leaders say UBS Arena workers have been working without a contract since October 2025. Also, because of the rising cost of living in the city, they are demanding a bigger raise than the proposed 0.75-cent wage increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrices is higher, it\u2019s hard, and I think that when a company is making millions, billions of dollars, and we have to show up, and show up with good smiling faces, and great customer service, and worry about being disciplined, and also not being able to feed our family,\u201d Christina DuBose, the executive board member of UNITE HERE Local 100, said.<\/p>\n
In a statement obtained by NY1, Delaware North wrote: \u201cDelaware North bargained in good faith with Unite Here Local 100 and reached a tentative five\u2011year agreement in February that included meaningful improvements to pay, benefits and other conditions of employment. After that agreement was documented in writing and a verbal agreement was given by Unite Here Local 100 leadership, the union later requested changes that would have required reopening negotiations. We declined to do so and are pursuing the appropriate legal process to address those concerns. We believe the next appropriate step is for employees to have the opportunity to review the full package and vote on it. Our focus remains on reaching a final resolution and allowing team members to decide the outcome through a ratification vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Union member Ameer Muhammad from Queens works as a dishwasher at UBS. The 24-year-old says he needs higher pay so he can save money to go back to school and earn his economics degree from Queens College.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very close, I was a senior, I only had about five classes left, and then life started happening, and I needed a job, and the arena was there, and I appreciate the arena for being there, but I can\u2019t go back with that wage,\u201d he said. \u201cI currently make $21.75. If this goes through, we\u2019re going to get a $2 raise, so that\u2019ll bump me up to $23.75 hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, for some of the UBS workers, they say providing a great fan experience is at times difficult when they feel undervalued by the company.<\/p>\n
However, they\u2019re grateful to fans for their support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard from the union that they [fans] are on our side, especially with the negotiations and trying to get Delaware North to pay us. So that\u2019s very good to hear, and it\u2019s nice that the fans appreciate us as much as we appreciate them,\u201d Muhammad said.<\/p>\n
The regular hockey season is over, with the Islanders not making a run for the playoffs<\/p>\n
Workers told NY1 they are hoping to reach a deal before the start of the new season in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protests outside the skyscraper that houses the National Hockey League\u2019s headquarters. A large group of workers from UBS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[472,3478,11101,25,288,157,75,84,83,9,24,12,6019,63,319,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-200541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-app-arts-entertainment","9":"tag-app-local-business","10":"tag-app-sports","11":"tag-app-top-stories","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-manhattan","15":"tag-manhattan-headlines","16":"tag-manhattan-news","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-noorulain-khawaja","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}