AT&T Park concession workers vote to authorize strike – sketchy ad pops up on Craigslist from ‘Cente

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bayareasportsguy.com/att-park-concession-workers-vote-to-authorize-strike-sketchy-ad-pops-up-on-craigslist-from-centerplate/

Bay Area Sports Guy May 11, 2013

AT&T Park concession workers held a vote on whether to authorize a strike on Saturday, and 500 of the 516 workers (97%) who voted were in favor of doing so. “The vote authorizes union leadership to call for any action including up to a five-day strike and a boycott of food and beverage at the park,” according to concession workers union UNITE HERE Local 2, which created a website that says how many days workers have gone without a raise (1,500+) and a rotating scoreboard that lists increases seen since 2010 in beer prices (13%), ticket prices (20%), team revenues (14%) and value ($223M), while also noting that wages have increased 0% over that time.

There have not been any announcements regarding a strike that will take place in the next 24 hours, so tomorrow’s game will probably go smoothly in the food and beverage department at AT&T. That may not be the case when the Giants get back from their road trip to Toronto and Colorado, however. The first game of their next homestand will be played May 20. On that night we might see the unveiling of the “Social Media Cafe” they announced before the season that’ll be housed where the Build-A-Bear station used to be. We could also see a change in who works the concessions.

Centerplate’s response:

“We see this as an unfortunate decision today that was encouraged by the unions,” said Centerplate spokeswoman Gina Antonini. “This as a very unnecessary step given that there are active negotiations going on.”

Should the workers eventually decide to walk out, the stadium concessions would be staffed by management and other employees, Antonini said.

FULL story at link.