Reagan, Others to Gather; Kitchen Strike Possible : U.N. Birthday Calls Leaders to Lunch

President Reagan, seven other heads of state, five vice presidents, 12 prime ministers and 300 other people will gather for lunch here today, and U.N. officials are hoping that the kitchen crew and waiters don’t go on strike.

A dinner on only a slightly smaller scale is scheduled for Thursday night, completing a round of festivities in observance of the United Nations’ 40th birthday.

Workmen began setting up for the big luncheon Tuesday night, starting with a round table 28 feet in diameter that had to be built in sections in the U.N. carpentry shop, then carried upstairs and assembled.

The table was placed in the center of the North Lounge, a space the length of a football field overlooking the East River. Thirty round tables for 10 will accommodate lesser-ranking guests.

Watching it all with fingers crossed will be Alan Robinson, chief of commercial services for the United Nations. A labor dispute is simmering between employees and Canteen Corp., a firm that contracts to handle the world organization’s restaurant and cafeteria services, but a walkout today is believed to be unlikely.

U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar will be host at the lunch and at ceremonies Thursday observing the actual anniversary of the founding of the United Nations at San Francisco. The ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. with speeches (Reagan going first as the chief executive of the host country) by representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

Reagans to Host Reception

Although it had been hoped that heads of state or government from all five would appear, only Reagan, Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will be here. The Soviet Union will be represented by Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and France by External Relations Minister Roland Dumas.

This evening, President and Mrs. Reagan will give a reception at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for all heads of state and government and their foreign ministers. Smaller dinners for national delegations will go on after that.

Thursday evening, Perez de Cuellar will be host at a dinner for leaders and their parties who could not be fitted in at today’s lunch.

Attending will be 12 mostly Third World heads of state or government, including President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. He had sought a private meeting with Reagan, but U.S. officials said Ortega would be accorded only a handshake at the reception this evening.

While that dinner is going on, Reagan will be the host at his hotel for a reception of allied leaders, followed by a working dinner for major allies: Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi.

The reception and dinner will give the allied leaders an opportunity to consult with the President in advance of his November summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Geneva.

For Craxi, it will also be an opportunity to repair the bruised U.S.-Italian relationship in the wake of the hijacking of the Italian liner Achille Lauro. Craxi’s ruling coalition collapsed over the incident, and he is now trying to put it back together.