Athletics Will Be Offering Aid to Game-Day Workers

With no Major League Baseball in the Oakland Coliseum for the immediate future, the Oakland Athletics will use a $1 million emergency fund to offer aid to third-party workers, a new report says.

The Oakland A’s are going to use the emergency assistance fund they announced last month to offer considerable financial assistance not only to their own employees but to third-party workers, part of whose livelihoods include working for the A’s on game days.

According to a report on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website Monday, the A’s plan for alleviating financial hardships brought about by the postponement of the start of the Major League Baseball season will extend to third-party vendors, including food service and game-day staffing companies.

On March 17, the A’s and the other 29 Major League teams put up $1 million for emergency funds. In the A’s case, the club wanted money going to Oakland Coliseum workers who suddenly found themselves out of a job. For many of the security guards, vendors, ushers and other stadium workers, the work they do during the baseball season is a primary source of income, and the sudden loss of it is a major hardship.

According to the Chronicle, employees eligible to apply for tax-free grants from the clubs’ Employee Relief Fund specifically included workers employed by ProPark, Aramark, Landmark, Allied Universal, and AEG. The funds will be allocated to cover expenses including mortgage or rent, essential utilities, food and medical expenses, among other thing.

At the time of making the initial announcement, which also included a $100,000 contribution to the Alameda County Food Bank, A’s president Dave Kaval said the club wanted to help as best it could.

Kaval reached into the movie “Field of Dreams” for the idea that “baseball’s been that one constant.”

“It’s like that great quote from Terrence Mann/James Earl Jones,” Kaval said. “No matter what, baseball has rolled on. This time, 150 years into our history as our sport, as the American Pastime, we can once again carry that. We can be an important place for our society, for America to congregate around.

“And also, to meet up again once we start playing. Because that will be a great moment when that happens. It seems like a long way from now, but it will happen before you know it. It will be `Play Ball.’ It will be a tremendous season that we will kick off. In the meantime, we need to do our part in helping Oakland, and helping the East Bay, and really in helping the entire Bay Area.”