We can’t allow the NBA to just drop their arena workers! Demand that all NBA team owners pay laid off arena workers for the duration of the NBA’s hiatus!
The NBA made the hard decision to cancel the current basketball season to protect its players, employees, and fans from the Coronavirus after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the virus. While this shocked and upset many people, it took jobs away from tens of thousands of arena workers whose incomes are dependent on the NBA games being played. With many cities around the country locking down entire sectors of the economy, these people have no other option to turn to for income.
Black workers disproportionately make up the low-wage hourly workforce which includes the vast majority of game-day employees.1 40% of hourly workers lack any savings and over 75% of them have less than $500 saved for emergencies. The coming days and weeks are likely to wipe out these savings and force employees to take on toxic debt or make difficult choices around food and medical care.2 And because of the systemic lack of healthcare and economic infrastructure in many Black communities, Black people are at particular risk for the extensive harm this pandemic will cause. We can’t allow the NBA to just drop these workers, with no income in the midst of a global pandemic.
Demand that all the NBA team owners pay laid off arena workers for the duration of the NBA’s hiatus!
19-year old NBA player Zion Williamson stood up for arena workers, donating his own money to support them, along with Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Rudy Gobert, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.3 These players have shown remarkable generosity by donating to support the low-income arena workers - but it’s not their responsibility to pay the wages of other employees. NBA players, while well-paid, are still employees of the NBA. Their generosity is remarkable. It speaks volumes about their character and the spirit of giving back that we honor in our community, but they shouldn’t have to pay the NBA’s bills.
NBA team owners are some of the wealthiest individuals in the country. Their wealth was built off of investments from taxpayers (like you and I) whose income taxes were used to build their arenas. We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases! The taxes of working-class people have funded the NBA’s explosive growth - it’s time for the NBA to own up to its responsibilities to the people and communities that make their game-day experience so profitable.4
The NBA is a multi-billion-dollar league that has the funds to cover the wages of impacted employees. The responsibility to provide income should be on the league, not its players. So we are calling on all NBA team owners to work with the various companies who manage stadium concessions to ensure those employees are also paid for the duration of the NBA’s hiatus.
Until justice is real,
Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Johnny, Jade, Evan, Amanda, Eesha, Samantha, Marcus, FolaSade, Jennette, Cierra and the rest of the Color Of Change team
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