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United faces gay-benefits ultimatum from San Francisco
January 18, 1997
Web posted at: 9:50 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Don Knapp
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- The city of San Francisco says it is ready to forego millions of dollars in lease money and send a major tenant packing if it refuses to offer domestic benefits to the gay and lesbian partners of its employees.
The culprit: United Airlines, which employs nearly 8,000 people at San Francisco's International Airport and pays the city millions of dollars in rent.
San Francisco politicians say they're prepared to cancel United's new lease if the airline doesn't offer the benefits to its employees -- about 86,000 in cities around the world.
"I feel if you're going to have skies that are friendly to married couples, then they have to be friendly to domestic partners, too," said Tom Ammiano, an openly gay member of the city's Board of Supervisors.
San Francisco's domestic partners law says any company that does business with the city must provide the same benefits to its unmarried employees as it does to those who are married.
A number of large firms have complied, but United balked, saying, "It could be inappropriate to broaden our benefit base when thousands of employees have made salary and benefit concessions to improve our cost structure and reduce expenses."
That's not good enough, critics say.
"The costs are way overstated. We have been told that only 1 or 2 percent of the work force will avail themselves of these benefits," said San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Susan Leal.
United had negotiated and signed a new $13.5 million lease without a domestic partners provision when the city's Board of Supervisors learned of it.
That raised the question: Was someone trying to sidestep the law?
"It's possible. You know, this is City Hall. You know this isn't Miss Nelly's playroom," Ammiano said. "So there could have been the possibility of trying to skirt the issue, no pun intended. Or it could have been happenstance."
For nearly six years, San Francisco has been formalizing lesbian and gay relationships among its employees by registering them as domestic partners. But even liberal San Francisco has been unable to push through a law that would recognize marriages of same-sex couples.
"I think what we're saying is, if the government will not allow people to get spousal benefits because they don't allow people to get married, then we should try to still bring about equity," Leal said
City government doesn't want to lose United's jobs or money, she says. But if United doesn't come up with a domestic partners policy in a year or two, the airline may in fact end up losing its lease.
Related stories:
- Gays protest Clinton signing same-sex law - September 22, 1996
- CNNfn: IBM to offer gay benefits - September 20, 1996
- San Francisco hosts gay 'marriage' - March 26, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window- United Airlines
- Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples
- Collected Domestic Partner Information
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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