COVID-19 claims 203 jobs at convention center
COVID-19’s latest casualties include the jobs of 203 people who prepared and served meals at Pittsburgh’s convention center.
Effective Aug. 1, Chicago-based Levy Premium Foodservice Limited Partnership is laying off bartenders, cashiers, cooks and food service staff who worked at the David L. Lawrence Center because the highly contagious virus has forced the cancellation of big events at the Downtown center, according to a notification sent to the state Department of Labor & Industry.
Although the terminations are permanent, Levy team members have been invited to reapply for jobs “when business levels return following the pandemic.”
Levy operates 200 sports and entertainment venues in 41 markets in the U.S. and Canada, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Dodger Stadium, also in Los Angeles. The Pittsburgh layoffs follow similar Levy job cuts in Santa Clara, Calif., and St. Louis.
Restaurants and the food service industry have been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, with Pennsylvania restaurant operators on average reporting a 79% decline in total dollar sales volume May 1 to May 15, according to the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging
Association, a Harrisburg-based trade group.
Things have been even worse for convention centers, said association president and CEO John Longstreet.
Even in counties such as Allegheny
where health department restrictions have eased, gatherings are still limited to 250 people, which is small by convention standards, he said.
Food service, Mr. Longstreet said, is “probably the hardest hit of the industries” affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s been a struggle for sure,” he said.