If you haven’t noticed, the Cleveland Indians are pro-sin tax and pro-Issue 7, which is entirely predictable and entirely within the team’s rights. The Indians can plaster “Keep Cleveland Strong” behind home plate for every fan at the game or watching on TV to see, and Mark Shapiro can give talks to the assembled Cleveland business community and talk about the easy choice to vote yes.
But Edward Loomis, a former usher for the Cleveland Indians, says that the team’s campaign to get voters on its side also includes mandatory pro-Issue 7 stickers that must be worn by employees and that his refusal to wear the pro-sin tax gear led to his dismissal from his job.
Loomis, who is 27, worked for the Tribe in the premium seating area since last Spring. He was all set for year two with the Indians when a little stomach bug snuck up on him just prior to the home opener. He emailed his supervisor and let her know he would probably not be available for that first three-game stretch. His illness cleared up sooner than expected and he arrived on April 4, ready to work. His supervisor then instructed him that, although he wasn’t on the schedule, to pencil himself in. He did so and attended the regular pre-game meeting.
It was there the ushers received the usual agendas for the game and some paperwork. But this year, the meeting also included discussion of the “Yes on Issue 7” sticker which, the supervisor said, was mandatory with the uniform. You will wear this, or you will go home.
“I had started peeling it off,” says Loomis, “but once the meeting started, it was said to be mandatory.”
Loomis informed his supervisor later via email that he was uncomfortable wearing the sticker. That evening he wrote:
Great Opening Day today!
I was a little taken aback that when I first came in today, an Issue 7 Sticker was slapped onto my jacket without any choice in the matter. I usually want to keep my politics and job separate, and for that very personal reason I choose not to wear the Issue 7 Sticker as a mandatory part of my uniform.
Thank You for Your Understanding, and I will see you at tomorrow’s game.
“I then came in the next day, on Saturday, and I was not allowed in the stadium. If you’re not scheduled, you’re told you’re not supposed to come in, and that made sense to me, since I had previously called off. I was persistent in asking why though.”
Loomis says he had security radio his supervisor twice to ask why he wasn’t allowed in and why the previous day’s arrangement — penciling his name in on the schedule — wasn’t suitable any longer. He had called off, prematurely, but was ready to work.
He subsequently received an email from his supervisor that he was not scheduled to work until further notice pending an investigation about what happened at the gate. Loomis insists that besides being “persistent,” he was not violent or threatening, either verbally or physically, that Saturday.
Yesterday, Loomis heard from the organization again: he was fired. A former coworker was not surprised — he told Loomis he had heard he was fired a full week ago.
He has a hunch it had nothing to do with anything except his refusal to wear the “Yes on Issue 7” sticker.
“When I asked [my supervisor] why I was fired and whether it had anything to do with the Issue 7 stuff, all she said was it has nothing to do with the Issue 7 stuff but I don’t have to share anything else with you,” says Loomis. “She told me if you didn’t want to wear it, you didn’t have to, which I found strange, because she said it in front of 40 people — you will wear this or you can leave.”
For its part, the Indians won’t comment on Loomis’ dismissal except to say that it had nothing to do with Issue 7 and that wearing the sticker is in fact not mandatory.
“The fact of the matter is his departure as an employee had nothing to do with him not wearing the issue 7 sticker. All employees can voluntarily wear the sticker, but it is not a mandatory element of their uniform,” Curtis Danburg, Tribe senior director of communication wrote in an email. “It is not mandatory and I can’t elaborate on the details of the dismissal except for the fact the two aren’t connected.”
Someone might want to tell that to some of their employees.
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2014.
“”When I asked [my supervisor] why I was fired….she said was it has nothing to do with the Issue 7 stuff but I don’t have to share anything else with you,” says Loomis.”
Even if this is totally legal and allowed in the Indians’ employment contract with their concession workers, this is a really stupid PR thing to do, particularly for a high-profile employer. Even a strong supporter of Issue 7 may frown on a firing without cause as being bad form and sway their vote. It’s not like this guy brought his politics to the workplace – they thrust it upon him. If it had nothing to do with his firing, then there’d be no logical reason why they couldn’t/wouldn’t tell him. They’re going to lose the PR battle on this one. Badly.
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel, railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing that could ever be considered with the term “value added.” Almost everyone discusses this “enterprise” as though it is the same thing as industry {which it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those who can afford it to pay those who don’t need it. If this isn’t a transfer of wealth I don’t know what is.
The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to “sin”} but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time {under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this time…not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the proponents on this one and we don’t care if the teams up and go somewhere else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Don’t ever let it be said that this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced. Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers. Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host, team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted, they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and tribulations as did the jesters in the king’s court during the middle ages. But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable. They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the “profound wisdom” of these people because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed, clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment above everything else; isn’t it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.
Another case of “say one thing, do another” at work. First, tell your employees that these stickers are, in fact, mandatory. Next, fire the one worker that refuses to wear the sticker. Finally, because you don’t want to get sued, insist that wearing said sticker is in fact not mandatory.
So, management tells its employees they don’t have to wear the stickers if they don’t want to, while this guy’s severed head is on a pike in front of everyone for all to see. Such bullshit, I can’t wait for Issue 7 to fall flat on its face.
Tell the owners to use the profits from being cheap (Dolan), stadium naming rights (Haslem), and casino profits (Gilbert) to pay for their buildings. Laugh when you see Issue 7, and then swiftly vote “No” on it. Better yet, why don’t we attach a success clause to their precious Issue 7. We’ll give you a third of the revenue your respective team is asking for when that team wins a title. So if all three teams want their full amount requested, each team can win us 3 titles. This way we can all feel the pain from having teams that blow.
These baseball organizations are run by people who are yes men. They are people who are all about making “we’re all on the same team” analogies.
Its completely believable that they would make it mandatory and try to fire someone for not wearing it. Baseball organizations tend to hire their gameday operations people through a lot of nepotism. I got a job in Guest Services there because my friend and his brother already worked for the team and recommended me. In turn, they knew someone higher up in the organization that got them their jobs. They don’t want to jeopardize what they and many see as an awesome job, so I found a lot of them just did what they were told without ever questioning it.
Vote NO on 7. All the BILLIONAIRE owners can afford to pay the repairs themselves. Countless studies by respected economists like Andrew Zimbalist have proven that pro sports don’t add enough economic value to cover the subsidies. They are simply entertainment, like movies. You don’t give away “sin tax” money to Paramount Studios or Brad Pitt, do you? Why should you line Dolan’s, Gilbert’s, and Haslem’s pockets. The values of these franchises all exceed $1 billion; will they share that with you? Of course not. They also have no where to go; all viable American cities have pro sports. It’s not like Boeing threatening to leave Seattle unless its extortion demands are met. I doubt the Browns will relocate to Mexico City or Shanghai anytime soon.
voters in Cuyahoga are very, very stupid. if you listen really carefully, you can hear Dolan, Gilbert, and Haslem laughing their asses off. The 1.8 million they spent to get this passed sure was worth it.