Report: Flames not paying event staff for lost wages
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoSome disappointing Calgary Flames news from a report by Postmedia’s Sammy Hudes, and this disappointment didn’t take place on the ice. With the coronavirus outbreak causing a pause to mass gatherings in Alberta and elsewhere, folks were concerned about Saddledome employees who won’t be working events due to these circumstances. It sounds like they won’t be paid going forward.
Asked at Thursday’s press conference what would happen to part-time employees, Flames CEO John Bean said things had to be figured out. By Friday? Well, things had been figured out:
On Friday, the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation — which owns the Flames, the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen and the NLL’s Calgary Roughnecks — said in an email to hourly and event staff they will not be paid for cancelled shifts during the stoppage, beyond shifts which had been scheduled for the day prior.“Unless notified by your supervisor, all scheduled shifts are cancelled. CSEC will pay for your March 12, 2020 shift if you were scheduled to work as the notice of cancellation was less than the 24 hours required by Alberta Employment Standards. Any shifts on March 13, 2020 and beyond must be pre-approved by your supervisor,” states the email, which was obtained by Postmedia.
It’s worth noting a few things.
- Flames majority owner Murray Edwards is super rich. Forbes estimated his net worth at roughly $1.5 billion last year (down from a previous peak of $2.5 billion several years back). Minority owners Jeff McCaig, Allan Markin and Alvin Libin are all doing well. They all aren’t doing as well as they were before the economy tanked, but they can probably use some of their vast liquidity to take care of things for their staff short-term.
- While the Flames signed a cheque for $275 million for a new building – which could theoretically impact their ability to shell out cash right now – so did the City of Calgary. And considering the city is effectively hiring the Flames to run the new publicly-owned building and letting them recoup the proceeds when the place opens in 2024, it’s likely that whatever short-term cash-flow headaches taking care of their staff would create will be off-set when the new building opens and they have oodles more cash-flow.
- Per Russian Machine Never Breaks, the ownership groups for 12 other NHL clubs are covering lost wages for their arena and event staff during the stoppage. Those clubs: Anaheim, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Washington. Some have super-rich owners. Some just have “regularly” rich owners. But they’re all stepping up to take care of their people – some of whom likely really rely on those wages – it’s nice to see. (Update: it’s up to 17 clubs covering at least some lost wages.)
As for the Flames? Their lack of action is disappointing, and hopefully it’s rectified.
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