After a year without jobs, stadium workers are eager to return to the stands with fans

After nearly a year of living on unemployment and navigating the hurdles that come with it, Samantha Spector is going back to work.

Spector, an Aramark employee who works as a server in the club box seats of the Wells Fargo Center, will be one of approximately 400 part-time workers returning to the arena Sunday as it prepares to host Flyers fans for the first time since the coronavirus shut its doors last spring.

“It’s exciting,” said Spector, 40. “It may not be full stands, but at least they’re getting the ball rolling in getting people back to work.”

Thousands of maintenance, food service, ticket takers, and other venue workers lost their jobs last March in the pandemic shutdown. Spector went six weeks without a paycheck last year as she navigated hurdles in the state’s unemployment system.

Philadelphia’s announcement Tuesday that it is loosening restrictions to allow 15% capacity for indoor events and 20% capacity for outdoor events, has reignited hopes in a struggling industry.

The Wells Fargo Center will host 3,100 fans this Sunday at the Flyers’ game against the Washington Capitals. The Phillies, which haven’t had fans at Citizens Bank Park since September 2019, will welcome about 8,800 spectators at the April 1 debut against the Atlanta Braves.

» READ MORE: Phillies will have 8,800 fans on opening day but could add more as season goes on

The Wells Fargo Center expects to immediately bring back about 400 part-time workers, on top of the approximately 100 employees who stayed on staff maintaining the facility during the shutdown, said Valerie Camillo, president of business operations for the Flyers and Wells Fargo Center. The arena hopes to have its full 2,000-person staff by the fall, Camillo said.

Deborah Rinaldi, spokesperson for the Phillies, said the organization is still figuring out how many employees will be brought back.

Labor unions said their workers are ready to return but want to make sure safety is a priority.

“Our members are eager to get back to work and excited,” said Rosslyn Wuchinich, president of Unite Here Local 274, which represents thousands of food and hospitality workers, including Aramark employees like Spector who are contracted to work at the sports centers.

“We of course want to make sure that that’s done safely,” she said.

The pandemic has crushed the hospitality and entertainment industry. Aramark reported a $20 million loss in the first quarter of 2021, after a combined $422 million loss in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 shutdown. The company laid off thousands of workers in October, including 1,080 contracted food and beverage employees at Citizens Bank Park and 721 workers at the Wells Fargo Center.

“It’s been brutal,” said Wuchinich. “A vast majority of our members have been out of work for a year and there aren’t a lot of other jobs that they can go get.”

Comcast Spectacor, which runs the arena, paid all employees through May 29, including cleaners, ushers, security, and ticket takers for Flyers, 76ers, and Wings games. The Phillies set aside about $1 million to support ballpark employees. But both excluded the hundreds of food and beverage workers contracted through Aramark.

» READ MORE: At the Wells Fargo Center, closed by coronavirus, Comcast workers will still get paid. Others may not.

Non-tipped Aramark workers at Wells Fargo make between $13 and $20 an hour, and work between 20 and 40 hours each week, depending on how many events are scheduled. For many workers, the job is their primary form of income.

Wendell Young 4th, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which represents maintenance and custodial workers at the sports facilities, similarly said members are eager to return to work.

“It’s not just about them being safe, but making sure the people coming to the facility are safe,” said Young. “They would much rather be working than be laid off or partially laid off, so if they can do it safely, that’s the best of both worlds.”

Jerome “Moon” Belo, chief shop steward for Local 1776 at the Wells Fargo Center’s maintenance department, said he is excited to see his colleagues: “This is going to be like a family reunion.”

“The fans need to come back because that means there’s a workforce,” said Belo, 61. “Your trash is our cash.”

Belo is one of only 12 maintenance employees — down from more than 300 before the pandemic — who have remained on staff during the shutdown, working full-time to maintain the arena. The staffer of 39 years, who calls himself “Mr. Stadium,” said he has felt safe working, and has been provided with adequate PPE and consistent coronavirus testing.

The hardest part, he said, will be reminding rowdy fans to keep their masks up.

The Wells Fargo Center has spent millions of dollars on safety improvements including contactless food ordering and ticket checking systems, social distancing markers, and protective barriers throughout the building, a spokesperson said. It also installed an $11 million HVAC system that replaces the air in the arena’s seating bowl every 30 minutes.

It’s unclear how many of the stadium workers have been vaccinated. Janitorial and maintenance workers are included in Philadelphia’s 1C vaccine group, which is not yet eligible for the vaccine. Food service workers are eligible in 1B.

Wuchinich said Unite Here looks forward to bargaining with Aramark to ensure paid sick and quarantine leave is provided to workers exposed to the virus.

Aramark said it plans to follow similar safety precautions it has used for employees at reopened venues across the country, including temperature checks, area disinfecting, and social distancing signage.

“Fans returning to watch games in-person represents a significant milestone over the past year and we look forward, once again, to serving them, in the very near future,” said Aramark spokesperson David Freireich.