SFO restaurant workers win raises, guaranteed health care in strike; back on the job Thursday
SAN FRANCISCO -- Restaurant and food service workers at San Francisco International Airport have won raises and other benefits after they started striking on Monday, shutting down most of the businesses within the airport.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
The hospitality workers' union reached a tentative deal late Tuesday night with the multi-employer group called SFO Restaurants, which was unanimously approved by the union's bargaining committe.
It includes free family health care as well as increased wages. A ratification vote will take place on Sunday, October 2.
RELATED: Day 2 of SFO restaurant workers strike, United Airlines flight attendants also plan to picket
The roughly 1,000 workers that were on strike are now back on the job Thursday, and say that it is a well-deserved victory.
"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."
Since Monday, passengers were being advised to bring their own food to the airport, as all of the food options were closed.
VIDEO: 1,000 SFO restaurant workers go on strike for better pay
Union President Anand Singh said the majority of workers on strike were making $17.05 an hour, which is often less than the price of one meal at the airport. They had not seen a raise in three years, the union says.
The last time food workers went on strike at SFO was back in 2014, which lasted for two days.
If approved, the contract would expire in August 2025.
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