Things just got worse for a lot of TD Garden employees.
The Boston Globe’s Michael Silverman reports Delaware North — the parent company which owns the Garden and the Boston Bruins — and the hockey franchise relayed the bad news to part-time ushers on Tuesday.
While the Celtics have made a commitment to pay their game-night employees through the rest of the regular season last week, Delaware North owner Jeremy Jacobs has only offered a $1.5 million fund that will pay out only if remaining Bruins games are permanently canceled.
With that outcome still many weeks or even months off, many such employees find themselves in financial limbo, notified by Jacobs’ company that they “may be eligible” for unemployment benefits.
“It leaves me nowhere — I can’t go to the unemployment office, I have a pension, I have other income, but there are other people that this is what they do — they work every Bruins game, every Celtics game, every concert, every everything that shows up,” said one anonymous usher interviewed by the Globe.
“Most of the guys I work with all have a day job — I work with people from the post office, I work with firemen, and most have day jobs, and this is a part-time job, supplementary income, I don’t see what we’re going to get for unemployment. It’s kind of an empty letter.”
Whether Jacobs will take additional steps to take care of his employees in such a critical moment remains to be seen.
As does whether the Celtics decide to step in and further assist Garden staff, given the currently-distant prospect of help from Delaware North and Jacobs.
[lawrence-related id=31100,30857,31496,31417]