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SFO, food service workers avert strike
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Related Topics: SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT
SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT (Map, News) - Holiday travelers will not have to fend for themselves when it comes to snacks, drinks and meals at San Francisco International Airport after representatives for the airport and the union representing its concession workers announced late Friday that a tentative agreement was reached with one company that runs restaurants there.
A two-week cooling-off period was requested by airport Director John Martin after Unite Here! Local 2 reached a tentative deal with Host, a company that runs four restaurants at the airport, according to union spokesman Ian Lewis.
The union represents about 650 employees — including cooks, waiters and other restaurant workers — at 50 food outlets within the airport.
Lewis said negotiations are not planned during the next two weeks and the union will move to reach the same deal with the remaining two dozen or so comapanies that run the remaining 44 food concession outlets in the airport.
Earlier Friday, chapter President Mike Casey said the all-day negotiations were the last chance and that the union would be at the bargaining table with airport officials "until we settle or we strike.”
Casey said that 97 percent of the workers he represents voted to authorize the strike.
Airport spokesman Mike McCarron said an estimated 1.6 million travelers are expected before the end of the year.
According to Casey, the agreement includes a nearly 33 percent increase in pensions and a nearly 10 percent increase in wages. The contract would be for two and a half years.
The workers have been without a contract since November.
Examiner Staff Writer Mike Billings contributed to this report.
