Talks between HMSHost Corp. and Unite Here have produced a strike-averting settlement for restaurant workers at Sacramento International (SMF), but discussions are still a ways off between those two entities regarding workers at San Francisco International (SFO).
Ian Lewis, a spokesman for Unite Here, said Friday morning the deal in Sacramento provided a substantial increase in wages as well as more money to cover health insurance benefits. The union covers about 180 restaurant workers at the airport.
Calls to HMSHost were not immediately returned.
Discussions with HMSHost went long into the night Thursday in San Francisco, where Unite Here has about 650 workers. Lewis says there are many issues yet to be worked out. Talks involving a multi-employer group representing several independent restaurants went late Wednesday, as well.
“We’re still quite far apart,” he says. “There’s been no decision as to whether or not to strike.”
Unite Here had authorized two-day strikes that could have started as soon as Thursday at both airports to “make clear to the employers that we are deadly serious,” Lewis says.
