San Francisco restaurant employees rallied Friday outside City Hall to show their frustration with the local stay-at-home order, after losing much of their business this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bartenders, servers, owners and other workers gathered to take a stand on reopening their businesses almost a week after San Francisco opted in to California’s stay-at-home order.
Rally-goer Giovanni said he relies on bartending to help pay the bills, and fears he’ll be evicted and won’t be able to give his kids a good Christmas if he doesn’t go back to work soon.
“I have to go back to work every day because I’m a bartender and I live off tips,” he told KCBS Radio. “One week goes by and me and my kids are not going to eat.”
Current restrictions only allow for takeout and delivery.
Giovanni held up a sign that read “open up the decks" for outdoor dining.
“We don’t even want to go back inside our restaurants,” he noted, “All we want is what they told us to do – build a $20,000 parklet. Just let us serve that parklet safely.”
Johnny, who owns several restaurants in the city, said he was there to support his employees.
“They’re just losing and there’s nobody speaking up for them,” he told KCBS Radio. “There’s no aid for them. It’s just a snowball effect that’s been going on for 10 months. And, I was heartbroken when I had to tell them that we had to close down again, except for takeout. I’m still heartbroken.”
Related
