Giants concession workers, who haven’t gotten raise in 3 years, to hold strike vote
Jeannette Copeland-Estrada has been a San Francisco Giants concessions worker for 27 years. She’s a stand manager, an essential role at the ballpark. Ask her about all of her responsibilities, and she’ll go off for five minutes straight. There’s an endless list of tasks for her to knock out before, during and after every home game.
Copeland-Estrada loves her job, she said. And she’s ready to go on strike to salvage it. On Saturday, Unite Here Local 2, the union representing about 930 concessions workers at Oracle Park, will hold a vote on whether to authorize a strike, union President Anand Singh told SFGATE. (News of the strike vote was first reported by 48 Hills.)
How food service workers got to this point, potentially inducing a work stoppage in the middle of the pandemic while the Giants are in the middle of a pennant race, can really be traced back three years. The deteriorating situation has more recently been inflamed by what workers say is a negligent, disrespectful attitude from the Giants organization, which hasn’t acknowledged their negotiation requests. The Giants did not respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.
The relationship between food service workers at Oracle Park and the Giants organization isn’t straightforward, because food service workers aren’t directly employed by the Giants. The Giants subcontract a company called Bon Appetit, which works with lots of pro teams/arenas, including the Golden State Warriors. But the ownership group, in this case the Giants, dictates the relationship between Bon Appetit and concessions workers. Essentially, Bon Appetit is trying to turn a profit, but within the parameters established by the Giants, who get a portion or share of all the food sales.
In an interview with SFGATE, Singh noted that while Bon Appetit is far from blameless in how concessions workers are treated at Oracle Park, the Giants are the real decision-makers.
“It’s a negotiation between us and Bon Appetit, certainly, but the Giants hold the cards here,” Singh said. “If the Giants were to decide today that workers should receive $3 an hour more, they could direct their subcontractors to make it so. That’s where the money is coming from, their own coffers. The Giants are in control of everything at that ballpark.”
Osaka loses composure in upset loss to Canadian teen Fernandez
NEW YORK — Something is clearly not right.
Naomi Osaka was hoping to make a statement at the U.S. Open, hoping to get her game back on track after a rough year that has included pulling out of one Grand Slam tournament and deciding to skip another. But she had a complete meltdown Friday and was ousted by 18-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.
Osaka, who won the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020, was playing in her first Grand Slam since pulling out of the French Open to take a mentalhealth break.
The usually stoic Osaka, a fourtime Grand Slam champion, slammed her racket to the court multiple times during the match.
Fernandez advances to the round of 16 for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament. This is the lowest ranked player Osaka has lost to since she lost to Coco Gauff in the 2020 Australian Open.
It was a big night for teenagers at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Earlier in the evening,18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain upset third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 0-6, 7-6 (7).
Fernandez advances to the fourth round where she will play No. 17 Angelique Kerber of Germany, the 2016 U.S. Open winner, who defeated Sloane Stephens, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.