Food workers end their strike at SF International Airport

KTVU

For now, picket lines of restaurant workers are gone at SF International Airport.

A thousand workers at San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO) restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and lounges have won significant raises and free family health care after shutting down most of the airport’s food and beverage outlets during a three-day strike. The strike ended Wednesday (Sept. 28) at midnight. 

Airport passengers and workers don't have to go hungry after a tentative deal for a new union contract was reached late Wednesday night by the hospitality workers’ union Unite Here Local 2 and the consortium of SFO airport restaurants; it was unanimously approved by the union’s bargaining committee of 80 airport restaurant workers. 

“This strike was so worth it to give my family a better life,” said Blanca Gay, a snack bar attendant at SFO for 30 years and member of the Unite Here Local 2 bargaining committee. “My son is in college, but he had to switch from full-time to part-time just so he could work. With the raises we won, I can help my son go back to school full-time. All the hard work and sacrifice of the strike has paid off for my family.”

The strike by the union, which includes a great number of AANHPI workers, had forced most of SFO’s food and beverage outlets to close, and passengers reported long lines for food and coffee at the few outlets that remained open.

The strike included a thousand cashiers, baristas, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, servers, and lounge attendants at 84 food and beverage outlets throughout SFO. The majority make $17.05 per hour and had not seen a raise in three years. 

Details of the agreement will be released to the public following a ratification vote by the full workforce on Sunday, October 2.

“This victory shows the world that fast-food jobs can in fact be good, family-sustaining jobs, and it’s all because workers had the courage to strike,” said Anand Singh, President of Unite Here Local 2. “After three years without a raise, SFO’s fast-food workers were tired of working two or even three jobs just to survive – so they took their lives into their own hands and won a better future.”

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