Over 96 percent of Oracle Park concessions employees voted to authorize a strike over working conditions at San Francisco Giants games, citing rising COVID-19 cases and a lack of hazard pay.
The members of Unite Here Local 2 voted to authorize a strike against Bon Appetit Management, the Giants’ concessionaire, by a 96.7-3.3 percent margin. Workers and union officials say they were assured by Bon Appetit that Oracle Park working conditions would be safe once the Giants were cleared for full capacity in June. That has not been the case: over 20 concessions workers have tested positive for COVID-19 since the move to full capacity. That led the union to ask for a $3/hour hazard pay raise and better working conditions.
This doesn’t mean a strike is imminent; it means the union can call for one as negotiations over working conditions continue. From NBC Bay Area:
Union officials with Unite Here Local 2 allege that although food service contractor Bon Appetit Management assured the workers that Oracle Park would be a safe environment when it reopened at full capacity in June, indoor mask mandates and social distancing protocols aren’t being enforced at the park, including at concourse concession stands and private suites….
In addition, because workers have to work 10 events per month to qualify for health care but only have nine events scheduled for some of the coming months, the workers are asking Bon Appetit to lower the threshold for health care eligibility to nine events per month.
Ballpark workers have struggled during the lockdown without secure health care and with little support from Bon Appetit or the Giants. Eligibility for health insurance is currently set at ten events per month, but some of the coming months have only nine events scheduled. Workers are asking to lower the eligibility threshold to nine events per month.
Oracle Park concessions workers last went on strike in 2013.