20,000 Visitors Flock to Yosemite in Spite of Strike
An estimated 20,000 visitors flocked to Yosemite National Park for the first big weekend of the season Saturday while pickets paced in the first strike of the park’s 95-year history.
A three-day strike by more than 100 park bus drivers, mechanics, maintenance workers and service station attendants of the Yosemite Park and Curry Co., which operates all park concessions, had no noticeable effect on park operations, a U.S. Park Service employee said.
“There haven’t seemed to be any problems by way of undue slowdowns,” said Mark Swetland.
“The parking lots are full, the camp grounds are full and other accommodations are just about full, and we expect more next week for the Memorial Day weekend,” said another Park Service worker.
The strikers walked off the job Friday morning after negotiations for a new labor contract collapsed Thursday night. No new talks were scheduled.
Picket lines were set up at several Curry facilities in the park as management personnel moved into the positions vacated by the striking workers.
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