Bay Club Beef : Labor: Employees on expired contract protest and threaten strike unless concerns over health plan, seniority and overtime pay are satisfied.

Citing concerns about health benefits, seniority and overtime pay, some 80 workers at the exclusive Balboa Bay Club demonstrated outside the oceanside complex Wednesday.

As club members rolled past in shiny Mercedes and BMWs, protesting workers carried signs in English and Spanish that said “Don’t Gamble With Our Health Care.”

Union officials charged that the club has refused to address employee concerns in nine bargaining sessions, forcing the job action. The union’s three-year contract expired at midnight Friday, but the 120 housekeepers, waiters and custodians have continued to work.

Angela Keefe, president of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 681, said union members have voted unanimously to authorize a strike if their demands are not met.

She also charged that the club’s negotiators were trying to break the union.

“I think it’s the club’s lawyers that want to strong-arm the union for their own benefit,” Keefe said. “It’s unfortunate because the club likes its employees.”

Attorneys at Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, Balboa Bay Club’s legal counsel, did not return calls requesting comment.

Jerry Johnson, chief financial officer of the Balboa Bay Club, had no comment on any of the union’s charges.

“The club would rather negotiate at the bargaining table,” he said.

Union leaders and Balboa Bay Club officials said they plan to meet with federal mediator Kevin Buffington today to try to reach a new contract agreement.

“What they want is to eliminate what we have,” said Martin Limon, a waiter with the club for seven years. “We are out here protesting because we want them [management] to feel pressure from the members.”

Employees have worn union buttons this week while serving at First Cabin, the 5,000-member club’s main restaurant and bar.

The most pressing issue, union officials say, is the club’s insistence that the union accept a new health plan without reviewing it first.

Workers are also upset at management’s attempt to change the club’s promotion policy to give more weight to performance, rather than seniority, which union members say will allow management to manipulate employees.

Union leaders say the club’s proposed scheduling rules mean employees could work 10 successive days without overtime pay. Under the old contract, workers receive overtime pay after clocking in for their sixth consecutive day.

In 1991, although workers never went on strike, contract negotiations broke down, resulting in a two-year boycott of the Balboa Bay Club by various unions and community groups.

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Contract Dispute

Employees of the exclusive Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach staged a two-hour demonstration Wednesday, five days after their contract with the club expired.

* Contract: Expired at midnight Friday.

* Employees represented: 120, including housekeepers, servers, cooks and custodians.

* Unresolved issues: Wages, health benefits, promotion policy and length of workweek

* Current hourly wage: $5.23-$6.25

* Union: Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Local 681

Source: Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union