Blues Announce Employee Assistance Fund

[Brian39]

The Blues, players, season ticket holders and Blues for Kids charitable foundation announced a fund today to help with employees who won't be getting paid based on the stoppage of events. At the risk of getting political, I'd like to talk about this a bit.

This is a good step and will help employees. I'm proud of the players (every one contributed) and happy that these workers aren't totally left out in the cold.

With that said, I want to talk about what this isn't. This is not the team paying employees. Unless it was accidentally left out of the press release, as of now there has been zero contribution to the fund by the team or any individual owner. Frankly, that would be a hell of an omission from the press release considering there is mention of contributions from the players, season ticket holders and the Blues for Kids charity which will be donating proceeds from past 50-50 raffles to this fund. I'd be stunned if the team had contributed money and no one noticed that it wasn't mentioned in this report. I hope the Blues prove me wrong and issue a clarification telling us about a huge donation the team has made to the fund.

A bunch of people are going to hear this news and believe that the team is stepping up and paying their workers who lost hours. That is not what is happening. The team has passed that buck onto players, season ticket holders, and anyone who wishes to follow the link in the press release to donate money.

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[AVictoryDive]

The Blues, players, season ticket holders and Blues for Kids charitable foundation announced a fund today to help with employees who won't be getting paid based on the stoppage of events. At the risk of getting political, I'd like to talk about this a bit.

This is a good step and will help employees. I'm proud of the players (every one contributed) and happy that these workers aren't totally left out in the cold.

With that said, I want to talk about what this isn't. This is not the team paying employees. Unless it was accidentally left out of the press release, as of now there has been zero contribution to the fund by the team or any individual owner. Frankly, that would be a hell of an omission from the press release considering there is mention of contributions from the players, season ticket holders and the Blues for Kids charity which will be donating proceeds from past 50-50 raffles to this fund. I'd be stunned if the team had contributed money and no one noticed that it wasn't mentioned in this report. I hope the Blues prove me wrong and issue a clarification telling us about a huge donation the team has made to the fund.

A bunch of people are going to hear this news and believe that the team is stepping up and paying their workers who lost hours. That is not what is happening. The team has passed that buck onto players, season ticket holders, and anyone who wishes to follow the link in the press release to donate money.

It does say Blues ownership helped establish and contributed.
Well, at least that’s what was stated by JR.

 

[MissouriMook]

This seems as good a place as any to leave this thought.

There has been a lot made over the last few days about the Blues ownership not stepping up to pay the game day work force during this pause in the season. What many have ignored is that the vast majority of the people in that group are employed by Levy Restaurants and not the team.

Most people have no idea of the complexities and complications involved in one company paying the employees of an unrelated company. Very few who can even appreciate THAT it is complicated even understand WHY it is so complicated. In the end, a solution was found, but the sad truth is that most will see this as the team caving to bad PR when it is far more likely that it simply took the team a few days to figure out the best way to pay someone else’s employees.

 

[Celtic Note]

This seems as good a place as any to leave this thought.

There has been a lot made over the last few days about the Blues ownership not stepping up to pay the game day work force during this pause in the season. What many have ignored is that the vast majority of the people in that group are employed by Levy Restaurants and not the team.

Most people have no idea of the complexities and complications involved in one company paying the employees of an unrelated company. Very few who can even appreciate THAT it is complicated even understand WHY it is so complicated. In the end, a solution was found, but the sad truth is that most will see this as the team caving to bad PR when it is far more likely that it simply took the team a few days to figure out the best way to pay someone else’s employees.

I was wondering about that. Those workers are not the Blues employees, so does this fund cover them as well?

 

[bleedblue1223]

This seems as good a place as any to leave this thought.

There has been a lot made over the last few days about the Blues ownership not stepping up to pay the game day work force during this pause in the season. What many have ignored is that the vast majority of the people in that group are employed by Levy Restaurants and not the team.

Most people have no idea of the complexities and complications involved in one company paying the employees of an unrelated company. Very few who can even appreciate THAT it is complicated even understand WHY it is so complicated. In the end, a solution was found, but the sad truth is that most will see this as the team caving to bad PR when it is far more likely that it simply took the team a few days to figure out the best way to pay someone else’s employees.

With all the negativity around, I like focusing on positives in the communities right now. I don't think we can expect government to pass a bailout of regular people, and when the community can come together to help as many people as we can, that's a good thing.

 

[MissouriMook]

I was wondering about that. Those workers are not the Blues employees, so does this fund cover them as well?

That was the way I read it.

 

[Brian39]

It does say Blues ownership helped establish and contributed.
Well, at least that’s what was stated by JR.

That's the problem, JR says they contributed, but the statement doesn't. JR later clarified that he "took the statement to mean ownership contributed" but there is no confirmation about that point.



It appears that JR's interpretation is just an assumption based on the vague wording of the statement. I'm holding out hope that it is a correct assumption, but I'm not holding my breath. There is very little chance that this press release wasn't reviewed by the legal department and I find it incredibly unlikely that the Blues simply forgot to mention that they contributed. Reading it like a lawyer, every word choice points to the idea that it was carefully phrased and not just slapped together.

Businesses are always very clear when they act charitably. I just can't envision a scenario where a press release that was at least partly put out to combat negative feedback from fans would just leave out the part where they donated money. The press release talks separately about establishment of the fund and contributions to the fund, offering credit for both acts to players, local donors and the Blues for Kids charity. It also acknowledges that the Blues for Kids contribution is "in addition" to administering the fund, which acknowledges a difference between the management of a charitable fund and financing that fund.

I'm not a corporate lawyer, but I read and write legal documents every day. Everything about the phrasing of that press release sets off alarm bells in my head that the words have been chosen very carefully. It reads like it was written by a lawyer instead of the PR department. If I were legal counsel for the Blues, that is exactly how I would have worded the statement if the team had not contributed money. Again, I really hope I'm wrong. I'd love an announcement that the team is making a substantial contribution to this fund, but this press release certainly isn't that.

 

[Xerloris]

I care more about the trainers and equipment guys getting taken care of more than I do some concession stand worker.

 

[AVictoryDive]

That's the problem, JR says they contributed, but the statement doesn't. JR later clarified that he "took the statement to mean ownership contributed" but there is no confirmation about that point.



It appears that JR's interpretation is just an assumption based on the vague wording of the statement. I'm holding out hope that it is a correct assumption, but I'm not holding my breath. There is very little chance that this press release wasn't reviewed by the legal department and I find it incredibly unlikely that the Blues simply forgot to mention that they contributed. Reading it like a lawyer, every word choice points to the idea that it was carefully phrased and not just slapped together.

Businesses are always very clear when they act charitably. I just can't envision a scenario where a press release that was at least partly put out to combat negative feedback from fans would just leave out the part where they donated money. The press release talks separately about establishment of the fund and contributions to the fund, offering credit for both acts to players, local donors and the Blues for Kids charity. It also acknowledges that the Blues for Kids contribution is "in addition" to administering the fund, which acknowledges a difference between the management of a charitable fund and financing that fund.

I'm not a corporate lawyer, but I read and write legal documents every day. Everything about the phrasing of that press release sets off alarm bells in my head that the words have been chosen very carefully. It reads like it was written by a lawyer instead of the PR department. If I were legal counsel for the Blues, that is exactly how I would have worded the statement if the team had not contributed money. Again, I really hope I'm wrong. I'd love an announcement that the team is making a substantial contribution to this fund, but this press release certainly isn't that.

Multiple sources on the radio say that ownership contributed. Either way the team along with other people are helping pay the employees which is definitely admirable. I know you’re just working with the the actual written facts, but I don’t think it’s necessarily right to say ownership didn’t contribute to the fund

 

[Celtic Note]

That's the problem, JR says they contributed, but the statement doesn't. JR later clarified that he "took the statement to mean ownership contributed" but there is no confirmation about that point.



It appears that JR's interpretation is just an assumption based on the vague wording of the statement. I'm holding out hope that it is a correct assumption, but I'm not holding my breath. There is very little chance that this press release wasn't reviewed by the legal department and I find it incredibly unlikely that the Blues simply forgot to mention that they contributed. Reading it like a lawyer, every word choice points to the idea that it was carefully phrased and not just slapped together.

Businesses are always very clear when they act charitably. I just can't envision a scenario where a press release that was at least partly put out to combat negative feedback from fans would just leave out the part where they donated money. The press release talks separately about establishment of the fund and contributions to the fund, offering credit for both acts to players, local donors and the Blues for Kids charity. It also acknowledges that the Blues for Kids contribution is "in addition" to administering the fund, which acknowledges a difference between the management of a charitable fund and financing that fund.

I'm not a corporate lawyer, but I read and write legal documents every day. Everything about the phrasing of that press release sets off alarm bells in my head that the words have been chosen very carefully. It reads like it was written by a lawyer instead of the PR department. If I were legal counsel for the Blues, that is exactly how I would have worded the statement if the team had not contributed money. Again, I really hope I'm wrong. I'd love an announcement that the team is making a substantial contribution to this fund, but this press release certainly isn't that.

It could be that Blues ownership didn’t want to do anything to overshadow the private and player contributions.

We may be reading into this too much.

 

[MissouriMook]

Multiple sources on the radio say that ownership contributed. Either way the team along with other people are helping pay the employees which is definitely admirable. I know you’re just working with the the actual written facts, but I don’t think it’s necessarily right to say ownership didn’t contribute to the fund

I would take this a step further and say that it doesn't really matter. If the people who need support are being supported, does it really matter how much of that support comes from the team, the individuals of the ownership group and their businesses, the players, the fans and the community as a whole? We're all out here taking care of each other and that is the most important thing.

 

[Brian39]

I was wondering about that. Those workers are not the Blues employees, so does this fund cover them as well?

It would not cover them as it specifically refers to employees of the Blues. There is a guy on reddit who said his wife is a bartender at the Enterprise Center and hasn't been given any reason to believe she will be eligible for anything from this fund.

With that said, the Blues directly employ hundreds of people who work hourly jobs in/around the arena. I think it is completely fair that their priority be to cover their employees as best as possible. I'd like to see them encourage/pressure their contracted vendors to pay those employees, but we aren't going to hear those conversations.

I'm very far to the left on the political spectrum in regards to employee rights and think that our social safety net is woefully insufficient. In my ideal world, we would have a hell of a lot more protections for workers in a scenario like this and we wouldn't be reliant on companies setting up charitable funds to seek donations in order for hourly workers to not be completely and totally screwed at a time like this. As strong as my belief system is in regards to these matters, I just absolutely can't offer any criticism of company A not coming up with any plan to pay workers of company B (even if that company provides a service to company A).