[quote]Next week's Democratic debate is in jeopardy after all seven candidates who qualified said Friday they would not cross a picket line at the California university where the event is set to take place.
[quote]The DNC, which organizes and sponsors the debates, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The committee last month moved the debate from the University of California, Los Angeles to Loyola Marymount because of a labor dispute between UCLA and a local union.
[quote]But Loyola Marymount is involved in a labor dispute of its own. The university subcontracts with the company Sodexo for its food services operations, and some 150 Sodexo employees work on campus as cooks, dishwashers, cashiers and servers. The workers have been locked in a labor dispute with the company since March and have not yet reached a collective bargaining agreement. Workers and students began picketing on campus in November, according to Unite Here Local 11, the union that represents the workers. The company canceled negotiations scheduled for the first week of December, the union said.
