Over 1,000 Restaurant And Concession Workers Are On Strike At Fenway Park For The First Time In Its 113 Year History Ahead Of Tonight's Red Sox Game Against The Dodgers
What a messy situation occurring in Boston ahead of tonight's series opener against the Dodgers. Everybody knows the best part about a baseball game is the concessions. It's the only way you can drink 99 beers and 99 hot dogs in a 9 inning game, and the only way to truly enjoy a day at the ballpark. Turns out Fenway workers are going on their first strike in the !113! year history of the park with Aramark, who says they're "negotiating in good faith". I feel like I've heard the phrase negotiating in good faith a billion times in my life, and part of me feels like none of the times that's actually true.
They had until noon to make a deal, which Aramark has said they have contingency plans in place if the workers really don't show up tonight. Hot dog AI robots sounds kinda sick, but what a brutal situation here. I'm not an economist but the last time I went to a baseball game, 3 beers and a hot dog ran me around $80 in NYC, so pardon me for thinking that the person pouring that drink might actually deserve a pretty high wage if I'm paying that premium anyway.
My uneducated guess is that there will be a large amount of people who boycott those concessions anyway, depending if it's a robot or someone who felt like they were paid just fine and showed up regardless. Or you'll have the drunkards who will stop at nothing to get a cold sip of brew while they watch the Dodgers pummel the Red Sox (LA fan speaking). Cries of "don't cross the picket line!" will be ringing out while Ohtani mashes 4 home runs in a rout. The only other case is someone who isn't chronically online and has no idea it's even going on and just wanted to take their grandkids out to a game against the World Series champs.
Jerry wrote about the workers voting to authorize a strike a few months ago, and while these things are always super complicated, seems like they've finally had their last straw with the Henry family:
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P.S. If LeBron was a full owner of Fenway Sports Group you best believe he'd have fan first pricing and some livable wages to boot.
Anyway, the math is that a cashier apparently earns $18.52 an hour at Fenway with the average beer cost being $10.79, if you compare that to Miami where the earnings are $21.25 an hour and an average cost of $5.14 at Marlins Park. Feels pretty obvious to me but what do I know, I'm just an AI blogger. Hopefully this situation resolves itself out immediately and we can get back to watching the Dodgers bludgeoning the home team.
Simpler times: