Levy agreed to pay into the union’s health insurance fund for its Dodger Stadium employees until September. “I’m worried about paying rent, I’m worried about bills, about food, about car payments.” After September, Reed will be without health insurance. Reed said that she’s “stressed” that her government unemployment checks ($394 every two weeks) will stop coming and the supplemental help from the federal Covid-19 fund will end as well. Now she lives with her brother and children, all of whom work at Dodger Stadium. When times got tough, she and her two children moved in with her parents. After she was laid off from her office job, she began driving for Uber, but grew weary of working until four in the morning. I’d like to see the owners of the Dodgers live one day in my shoes.”įor many years Reed, who is divorced, had a full-time job as a clerk/typist and worked at Dodger Stadium at night. “I can’t understand how people can be so greedy,” Reed said. They sent us an electronic check, but if we wanted to have it deposited in our checking accounts, they charged us $20.” “The worst part is, we had to apply for it. “The fact that they think that $350 is enough is a slap in the face,” Reed said. This was half as much as the workers employed directly by the Dodgers, who received $700. After UNITE HERE circulated a petition and got some local media coverage for their plight, the Dodgers donated $350 to each food service worker. Like her 1,700 Dodger Stadium food service colleagues, Reed is employed by Levy, a division of Compass. She also earned a little more than that amount working at Staples Center, home of four professional sports franchises-the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks-each of which have canceled their seasons, too. I love the fans,” she said.Ī shop steward for her union, Unite HERE Local 11, Reed earns $20.69 an hour and last year took home about $15,000 for the season, working the 81 home games at Dodger Stadium. She’s worked at the ballpark since 1991, when she was 18, and has been the manager of one of the stadium bars for several years. The Giants sent her a $500 check.ĭeedee Reed lives six blocks from Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, an area that was cleared of its remaining Latino residents to make way for the stadium in the 1950s. Her direct employer, Bon Appetit, provided no relief. Harwood, who served food and drinks in the stadium’s luxury suites, says she tried to make people “feel like superstars.” “It’s more cost-effective to buy fruits and vegetables and grains in bulk and then blend them to get the nutrients you need,” Harwood says. Since being laid off, Ashley Rose Harwood, who has worked at San Francisco Giants home games at Oracle Park since 2015, has shifted from eating beans and rice to get by to a “liquid” diet. Most, but not all, teams provided the stadiums’ blue-collar workers between $300 and $600 one-time checks, less than a week’s rent for most of them. The Marlins have won the World Series twice in the last seven years.UNITE HERE, which represents the food and beverage employees at 21 of the 30 stadiums, waged similar efforts in other major league cities, and with similar results. Baseball is “America’s pastime.” There are 81 home games in a Major League regular season. Those events shy away because they don’t want dirt on their fields,” Schulze said. “The management of the dirt ends up problematic for other events, such as international soccer matches. Schulze said Pro Player Stadium is unable to acquire some events because of problems created by the infield dirt during baseball season. He said dumping the Marlins would let the stadium pursue other events such as cricket and soccer. Pro Player Stadium President Bruce Schulze said Friday that 2010 is the last of a series of one-year lease options for the Marlins, who share the complex with the Miami Dolphins. Pro Player Stadium officials have told the Florida Marlins they won’t be allowed to play there after the 2010 season, the latest factor in the team’s prolonged struggle to get a new ballpark built in the Miami area. Pro Player to kick out Marlins after 2010 season (SI)
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