Vancouver Canucks concession staff's contract terminated

[oneh2obabe]

Nearly 1,000 people who serve food and beverages at Vancouver Canucks hockey games and other events at Rogers Arena will be out of work in a few months.

Concession and food service employees arriving at work Monday were given notices telling them that their employer Aramark's contract at the arena, which was supposed to last into 2015, had been terminated early.

Canucks Sports & Entertainment, the same group that owns and operate the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, has had a contract with Aramark since the arena opened 18 years ago.

The arena's chief operating officer Victor de Bonis said "big changes" in the arena's food and drink services are going to be unveiled July 1, and they plan to run the concession themselves, including hiring 1,000 new workers.

"Everyone will have a fair opportunity to apply and we will soon announce plans for a job fair and other opportunities as they become available,” de Bonis said in a written statement.

"Aramark has been our provider since we opened our arena in 1995 and we thank them for their years of service," he said.

David Freireich, a spokesman for Aramark, said the company is disputing the early contract termination, but decided it was important to let the affected employees know about the notice of contract termination it received.

Employees of Aramark who spoke with CBC News said they currently earn between $13 and $18 an hour and are concerned the new jobs that being created will be lower-paying.

Canucks Sports & Entertainment has not said what range of wages it will be offering.

A notice posted on the University of British Columbia's calendar of public events says that Canucks Sports & Entertainment is holding a job fair on campus today, though it does not say whether the positions it is trying to fill involve food and beverage services, or just other arena positions.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2567701

[Rwede]

I think they have to look for 23 new players and a coach and a GM before they worry about who slings the beer and popcorn.

Hope they hire back as many of the Aramark workers as they can.

[Bsuds]

Just shows what can happen when you don't get a no trade contract.

[maryjane48]

Just shows what can happen when you don't get a no trade contract.

or a union?

[Bsuds]

The union would have been dealing with Aramark and not the Canucks. So the result is the same.

[Rwede]

or a union?

They are unionized. That sure helped them, eh?

I find the last name of the union president to be extremely amusing, given the job he has.

The Aramark employees, who are members of Local 40 in UNITE HERE, do everything from pouring beer to serving hotdogs and nachos.

Local 40 president Robert Demand said his members would like to keep their jobs.

“The Canucks can choose to change their caterers but they shouldn’t throw away the hard work and dedication of over 700 great food and beverage employees that are currently at Rogers and want to stay working for the team and fans they love,” said Demand.

He said the union only learned of the change just before the Canucks’ Monday night game against the New York Islanders.

[LoneWolf_53]

I find the last name of the union president to be extremely amusing, given the job he has.

LOL.

Talk about fate nailing that one dead on.