While we're busy complaining that you can't get a decent-sized soda at the Barclays Center, 120 construction workers at the arena are struggling to get a decent—or at least livable—wage. The group of workers, who are responsible for converting the arena from a basketball court to a concert hall, plan to vote today to stop paying dues to their union, SEIU 32BJ, with an eventual goal of de-certifying.
"We feel we’ve been misrepresented by them," Barclays worker Micah Gardner told the Daily News. "The Garden workers get way more than we're getting." The discrepancy between crews at the Brooklyn and Manhattan arenas comes from their employment status: The Garden employs six to fifteen full-time employees, who make $46 an hour, supplemented by twenty to forty part-time workers. Barclays, on the other hand, employs exclusively part-timers, who are paid $14 an hour. On the plus side, they'll be eligible for "some health benefits" after they've converted the arena for 400 shows! Only 49 more of Jay-Z's eight-night runs and they're eligible for "some" health benefits—you hear that guys? "Some!"
Barclays carpenters are reportedly aiming to join the New York City District Council of Carpenters, the same union that represents the MSG conversion crew. That union, whose workers helped build the Barclays Center, had asked Forest City Ratner to create full-time jobs, a request which was denied. A Ratner spokesperson responded that "These conversion jobs are by their nature very part-time." Not only are the conversion jobs "very part-time," but so is seemingly every job at the arena: 95% of Barclays jobs are part-time and without benefits.
This labor unrest is only the latest speed bump for the Barclays Center, which has been rife with protest and community backlash from the start. We'll continue to report back on these struggling union worOH NEVER MIND BARCLAYS IS GETTING A SHAKE SHACK WE ARE SO THERE.
