Fenway vendors seeking Sox’ help
Aramark workers will lose insurance
Seven employees of Aramark, the third-party company that supplies hourly workers for Red Sox games at Fenway Park, are set to lose their health insurance amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The news comes as Aramark has not agreed to lower their limitations that guarantee health insurance to employees who reach an hourly threshold during the year. The Boston Local 26 union asked Aramark to lower the threshold considering the Red Sox season has been postponed and employees can’t work hours they usually would, but that request was denied.
“They don’t have insurance, can’t go to the doctor and we’re in a public health crisis right now,” said John Ferolito, who is entering his 14th season working at Fenway Park via Aramark.
Aramark is believed to have shut down all operations at Fenway during the postponement and the company is not expected to pay any of its employees for any lost wages at this time.
The Red Sox had been in constant communication with Aramark and, as of last week, expected that Aramark was working on something to help their employees across the country at all the venues they serve.
Many of those employees are longtime concession workers at Fenway Park. They’re now asking for the Red Sox’ help.
While the Sox and every other MLB team pledged $1 million each to help support hourly workers during the pandemic, those funds were applicable only to the 1,300 employees who worked directly for the Red Sox.
The third-party employees who call Fenway Park their office during the baseball season feel left behind.
“The 1,000 subcontracted concessions workers in UNITE HERE Local 26 like myself at Fenway are hearing that we’re being shut out,” wrote Sean Boudreau, a Fenway Park concession stand worker for more than 20 years.
Boudreau is leading a petition as part of the Local 26 union to ask the Red Sox to help support the third-party employees as well.
Ferolito, a bartender in the EMC Club who serves highend clientele who pay upwards of $375 per game, said working at Fenway Park is the best job he’s ever had. He said most of his co-workers have worked there 10-plus years and feel like a family.
But seeing the Red Sox exclude third-party employees from the $1-million pool “felt like a slap in the face.”
“It’s scary,” he said. “The unknown is the worst part. It would be nice to see the little guy get some respect for once. Get a little help. Not get looked the other way or walked on. Now is the time to help the people who help the Red Sox.
“When there’s a rainout Tuesday afternoon, two days later we learn it’s rescheduled for a Thursday afternoon. Those people reschedule their day jobs to work a doubleheader. It’s the little things. We’re doing stuff for you guys at the drop of a hat. Where are you when we need you?”
Multiple efforts to reach Aramark for comment over the last week have not been successful.
Carlos Aramayo, the incoming president of Local 26, compared the situation to that at MIT, where the university agreed to pay third-party food service workers through the end of the semester, even though those workers don’t get paid directly by MIT.
“They’ve done the right thing,” Aramayo said of MIT. “They’ve realized they’re passing that money down to the contractor. They’re paying folks till the end of the semester. MIT is a deep pocket institution. We all know the Red Sox are a deep pocket institution as well. I don’t think it would be that difficult for them to do right by them.”
The Red Sox have not yet offered any comment on the developing situation.
“People are facing potential loss of benefits, loss of income,” Aramayo said. “It’s an industry where there’s a limited number of games every year. Those guys get in there and hustle. Everyone who has been in there sees how those guys hustle. That’s how they make a big share of their income with those games that happen every year.”