Just as the Giants clinch a spot in the playoffs — and in an odd year no less! — workers at Oracle Park are demanding improvements in workplace safety and a pay raise, and around 200 of them briefly walked off the job Friday morning in one of their first actions.

Workers in the Unite Here Local 2 union voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to authorize a strike, as CBS Sports reported. The union says that the workers' employer, Palo Alto-based Bon Appétit Management Company, has not given them a raise since 2018, and there has been a spate of COVID infections among their ranks which they blame on lax safety protocols.

The union said 20 workers had tested positive for COVID-19 since the ballpark reopened for the season, and another one tested positive Wednesday.

One of the workers at the ballpark, Marc Norton, reported on the walkout this morning for 48 Hills, saying that a full-fledged strike could still be coming.

While the workers don't work directly for the Giants, the Giants could be working behind the scenes to try to get this resolved, given that they don't need a worker strike interfering with what will be an extremely busy post-season at Oracle Park. But members of the Giants brass were not in attendance for the walkout.

Workers are asking for $3 per hour in retroactive hazard pay, in addition to a raise.

"People are pretty pissed," said Anand Singh, president of Unite Here Local 2, speaking to 48 Hills last month.

And, Singh said in an earlier statement, "It's outrageous that COVID infections weren't enough for Bon Appetit and the Giants to start taking more effective safety measures, but we hope our strike vote will be the jolt they need."

It's not clear what safety measures the union is demanding.

The last time concessions workers at the ballpark went on strike was eight years ago, in 2013, and the strike only lasted one game before the two sides resolved their differences.

Photo: Corleone Brown