March 27--Developers of the proposed NFL stadium in Inglewood reached agreement Thursday with a powerful labor group on jobs for the $1.86-billion project, avoiding a referendum that could have delayed the undertaking.
"We now have certainty that the project will be an economic engine for the entire region and help turn the tide against poverty-level jobs in Los Angeles," said Rusty Hicks, executive secretary of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The deals between nine of the federation's unions and the developers, which include St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, end a month-long spat between the parties.
After Inglewood's City Council unanimously approved the stadium Feb. 24, the federation started collecting signatures to force a public vote on the fast-tracked project that is expected to break ground by December. The federation, which represents more than 300 unions in the county, wanted developers to guarantee better wages and more jobs.
A group backed by the developers circulated an email earlier this month that urged Inglewood residents not to sign "the anti-stadium petition" by "outside special interests backing competing stadium plans."
Hicks has denied that the federation favored the Inglewood project or a rival stadium proposal in Carson. Instead, he said, the labor group only sought better jobs.
Negotiations between the parties continued along with the signature-gathering effort. Privately, both sides were optimistic in recent weeks that the matter would be resolved by the referendum's Thursday deadline.
Details of the developers' agreements with the unions weren't immediately available.
