Report: TD Garden Ushers Laid Off Days After Bruins Announce Workers Fund
Hundreds of part-time ushers for Boston's TD Garden were laid off on Tuesday amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a memo first obtained by the Boston Globe.
The news of the layoffs comes just days removed from the Jacobs family, the owners of the Bruins, establishing a $1.5 million fund for Bruins and TD Garden part-time employees affected by the coronavirus shutdown.
Per the Globe, the letter sent to employees was titled "Operational Impact of Coronavirus,” and it said workers “will not be scheduled until the conditions at our unit allows us to resume normal operations. As this situation is rapidly evolving, we will continue to update you with the anticipated date that we will resume business. We hope to provide as much notice as possible.”
It goes on to say that state employees may be eligible for unemployment and that those in charge of TD Garden hoped the changes would be “short-lived.”
Groupe CH, the group that owns the Canadiens, announced Tuesday it will temporarily lay off 60% of its employees due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sports industry.
The organization has created a $6 million assistance fund so employees will receive insurance benefits for eight weeks and 80% of their base salary during this time. Groupe CH plans to bring employees back to work as soon as it's able to.
Late last week, the Pegula Family, owners of the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres, laid off a majority of its food services and hospitality staff as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As a valuable asset to our hospitality family when business returns to normalcy, we encourage you to come back and apply for an open position. You will be amongst the first considered to re-join our teams,” Dominic Verni, the vice president of hospitality with Pegula Sports and Entertainment, said in a termination letter obtained by The Athletic.
Per The Athletic's John Vogl and Tim Graham, in the case of the Sabers and Bills, "even if the employees are rehired and return to work, there has been no guarantee they’ll come back at their same rate of pay."
The moves come after the NHL reportedly decided to reduce league office employees' salaries by 25% during the pandemic.
As of Tuesday night, there are more than 406,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide, causing more than 18,000 deaths. There are more than 52,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States.