Strip club sues Oracle over employee's unpaid tab

An Oracle worker ran up a bill at the New Century Theater. An Oracle worker ran up a bill at the New Century Theater. Photo: Michael Macor, SFC Photo: Michael Macor, SFC Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Strip club sues Oracle over employee's unpaid tab 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A San Francisco strip club is suing Oracle after one of its employees ran up $33,540 in charges on a company credit card - and Oracle refused to pay the bill.

The suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, comes just as Oracle OpenWorld's mega conference gets rolling, bringing an estimated 60,000 conventioneers to town.

According to the lawsuit, the employee - identified as Jose Manuel Gomez Sanchez - used his Oracle-issued American Express card to charge $16,490 in unspecified "services" at the New Century Theater on Larkin Street during the wee hours of Oct. 2 during last year's Oracle OpenWorld fest.

It must have been some party, because the employee returned two nights later and rang up another $17,050 in charges.

New Century bills itself as "San Francisco's premier all nude gentleman's club" - and even offers discounts to convention-goers.

An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment on the suit.

New Century's attorney David Cook wasn't talking either, telling us only that the lawsuit speaks for itself. And maybe so does Cook's e-mail address: Cook@SqueezeBloodFromTurnip.com.

BART ride: One look at what is on the table in the new round of BART negotiations that continue this week shows pretty clearly that the unions are winning.

Just look at the numbers.

When negotiations began on April 1, BART management's position was a) no raises; b) workers begin paying more into their pensions; and c) most importantly, that workers move from paying a flat $92-a-month for health care to paying 20 percent of their medical premiums.

The package would have saved the transit system about $140 million over 4 years.

In a last-minute attempt to avert the July 1 strike, BART sweetened the offer with an 8 percent raise over 4 years, and dropped the medical kick in to 16 percent, down from 20.

As the deadline approached for a second possible strike in August, BART upped its offer again. This time the package included a 10 percent pay hike over 4 years, only a 4 percent retirement kick-in, and a continuation of the flat rate for health care - except for those on the high-end plans.

In short, BART went from a deal to save the system $120 million to a deal that will cost about $33.8 million over the next four years.

"We've been the one's making the moves through out," said BART director Zackary Mallett.

BART Board President Tom Radulavich said, "If we go beyond this, it will mean more cuts and dirtier stations."

The problem for BART is that their "final-final" offer made before the imposed cool down, is now the opening offer in the new negotiations.

"We were too quick and too generous" Mallett said.

Meanwhile, the unions - who started with a call for 21 percent in raises over four years - have pretty much held firm, while decrying BART's supposed unwillingness to negotiate.

As it stands the union's counter offer calls for 13.5 percent in raises over three years, plus contributing 4.8 percent of their salaries toward their pensions (a payment that, under their proposal, would be reimbursed in addition to the raises).

The unions have also offered to increase the flat rate of their health co-pay by $15 a month.

A package estimated to cost the district $86 million over the next three years.

"We are committed to working every day to avoid a strike," said Service Employee negotiator Josie Mooney. "BART should come to the table sooner rather than later and negotiate."

Privately, union leaders tell us that, even though BART drivers are among the best paid in the nation, after years of furloughs and take backs the rank and file are not going to agree to a deal unless it includes higher raises.

Whether BART comes across with more money remains to be seen. Directors say they are at their limit, however, they concede that there is a lot of pressure to avoid a second walk out.

If there is another strike, don't look for Gov. Jerry Brown to step in again.

"I've exercised my power. That was the cooling off period," Brown said during a recent visit to San Francisco.

As for a special legislative session to impose binding arbitration?

"Neither the management nor the unions have shown any appetite for binding arbitration," Brown said, then added, "I urge the parties to get real."