Barclays Center Strike Averted With Potential Pay Increases, Benefits

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, NY — Barclays Center workers called off a potential strike after reaching a tentative agreement with their employer to increase pay, union representatives announced Tuesday.

The food and beverage workers — employed by Levy Restaurants and organized with UNITE HERE Local 100 — secured raises between $5 and $11.20 an hour, eventually bringing the lowest workers' pay up to $25 an hour, UNITE HERE said in a news release.

The tentative contract, effective through 2027, would also include health insurance for more Levy workers, tips for concessions workers, pension contributions, a 401K employer match and flexibility to work at other Levy properties, union organizers announced.

"As always, Brooklyn does it best: Levy and [UNITE HERE] workers at Barclays came together at the bargaining table and walked away with the best contract in the union’s history," said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in a Tweet.

The contract still needs to be approved with a union member vote, organizers said.

Workers were expected to vote Monday on authorizing a walkout, just hours before Drake was expected to take the Barclays stage for four days, the New York Daily News reported.

"It will raise the standards for us in all classifications at Barclays. I’ll actually have health insurance through the job I’ve worked since day one!” Lashawn Saunders, a Levy concessions stand lead at Barclays Center, said in a statement.