Orioles to compensate stadium workers for games lost during Baltimore riots
With civil unrest and chaos overtaking the streets of Baltimore throughout the week of April 27, the Baltimore Orioles were forced to significantly alter their schedule in the best interest of their fans, whose safety would have been put at serious risk by traveling to and from Orioles Park at Camden Yards.
In fact, with rioting and looting already taking place on Saturday, April 25, the Orioles were forced to close Gate H and hold fans in the stadium for several minutes following the game for safety purposes.
As a result those circumstances and continued escalation of tensions in the days that followed, the Orioles and Major League Baseball postponed two of their scheduled games against the White Sox and played the third game in an empty stadium, which was a first in MLB history. Baltimore’s weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays was relocated all together to Tropicana Field, essentially wiping four home dates clean from the calendar. Actually, with Baltimore later scheduled to face Chicago in a doubleheader on May 28, it’ll end up being five dates lost.
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That meant a lot of inconvenience for the team, which undoubtedly cost them millions of dollars in revenue.but many more people were concerned about the stadium workers who lost a week’s worth of work and wages through no fault of their own.
There were pleas from fans directly to the Orioles, asking them to take care of those workers. There were even funds set up to take donations, but the latter won’t be necessary now that the Orioles have stepped up to ensure all of those employees are paid in full.
The message reads:
Due to the extraordinary circumstances that led to several cancelled or rescheduled games, the Orioles organization will compensate all hourly employees for hours that would have been ordinarily worked the week of April 27. This adjustment will be added to your 5/29 paycheck.
It’s a good move on the Orioles part for several reasons. First and foremost, many of those employees may rely on the extra money the job affords them to get by, and it’s always good for morale to make sure those employees are taken care of.
Beyond that, given the complicated business arrangements that sometimes exist between vendors, clubs and stadium authorities, it’s good to see all parties were able to work around contractual language and other red tape that likely exists to make this happen.
It’s a big positive to come from an otherwise negative situation, and it definitely shines a positive light on the Orioles.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
