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For a double-barreled labor action, there was an unusual amount of singing, laughing and joking-and not a single arrest.
Former food service employees at Burbank Airport were serious about their sit-in at the airport Wednesday morning in an attempt to get their jobs back.
But circumstances overwhelmed the gravity of the occasion.
About 35 food-service employees-who staffed the airport bar and restaurant, and prepared meals for airlines to serve to passengers-lost their jobs at midnight Tuesday when Host International took over the airport's food concession from Greyhound Food Management.
Just before 9 a.m., three women and a man sat down in the entrance to the airport restaurant, which was opening for its first day under Host International management. Carrying signs that read "Jobs, Not Unemployment" and "Boycott Host," they sang variations, with verses suited to the occasion, of the protest songs "We Shall Overcome" and "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around."
The four were not actually former airport workers, but representatives of their union, Local 11 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union.
"We didn't want to use real workers because that might affect their chances for employment," union representative Lupe Cruz said.
Shortly afterwards, another union opened a second front.
A non-union camera crew was covering the sit-in...