Landmark Credit Union Live workers vote to form union at downtown site

Same union represents Fiserv Forum workers

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• Workers at the new Landmark Credit Union Live music venue have voted to form a union.
• The vote included 87 hospitality employees, with 81 voting in favor of unionizing.
• The workers are organizing with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers (MASH).
• The venue’s hospitality vendor, Levy, did not challenge the union card count.

Landmark Credit Union Live workers have formed a union – just one month after the music venue opened in downtown’s Deer District.

A union card count held in Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell’s office showed 81 of 87 employees of Levy, the venue’s hospitality vendor, voting to form a union.

The March 25 vote doesn’t cover all Landmark Credit Union Live workers. It does include cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, servers, attendance bussers, hosts, runners, and barbacks.

Matt Haughn, human resources director for Compass Group USA and Levy, attended the count to represent management. Asked if the company was challenging any cards, he silently shook his head “no.”

The workers are organizing with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers. MASH also represents workers at Fiserv Forum and Pabst Theater Group.

The next step is for the company and union to decide if the workers should join the MASH bargaining unit at Fiserv Forum or form their own unit, along with other contract details.

Card count was drama free

Luther Rivers, lead cook at Landmark Live, said he wanted to organize a union because it “brings balance between the employer and the employee.”

“It’s amazing to know that my fellow co-workers support our cause and they also agree that we can bring balance, and hopefully it’s a good thing that builds our company and our morale,” Rivers said.

“When I saw that [the count)] was in our favor, I was joyous because we can sit at the table now,” he said. “We can sit at the table properly without worrying about personal issues or personal vendettas.”

MASH President Peter Rickman said the undisputed card count is “how it should be.”

“Levy deserves credit for handling this like adults, like people who want to be part of the fabric of a community where workers are treated with dignity and respect,” Rickman said.

MASH has been organizing hospitality and service workers at businesses such as Lakefront Brewery in 2024; Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company and Fairground Craft Coffee and Tea in 2025, and Discourse Coffee in February.

It represents about 1,300 workers throughout Milwaukee, and the number could grow if more workers at Landmark Credit Union Live decide to form a union. Those could include ticket takers, ushers, security workers, and cleaning workers employed by venue operator FPC Live, a Live Nation joint venture partner.

Rickman said MASH has received calls from Live Nation in anticipation of workers in Milwaukee forming a union, and hope for there to be no “adversarial dynamic.”

Nicholson-Bovell acted as a neutral, third-party card counter.

“I know first hand how unions lift people out of poverty and help contribute to the community to make it stronger,” said Nicholson-Bovell, a former MASH organizer.

“This was my first time doing this so I was a little nervous, as well,” she said. “I had no idea how it was going to go.”