Orioles workers protest outside team merchandise store on Black Friday
BALTIMORE -- Around 70 Orioles merchandise employees and their supporters picketed outside of the Orioles Team Store on Friday, according to WJZ's media partner the Baltimore Banner.
They held signs and demanded that Orioles' merchandise company, Fanatics, restore work hours and health care benefits to some employees, the Baltimore Banner reported.
In a statement released ahead of the demonstration, members of the hospitality workers' union UNITE HERE Local 7 noted concessions and retail workers at Camden Yards have long been represented by the union.
But at the beginning of last season, the Orioles split the contract to run the concessions, allowing Fanatics to take over the operations of the team store, according to union members.
Meanwhile, Levy Restaurants was chosen to run the food and beverage operations at the baseball stadium.
Levy Restaurants quickly moved to take up the previous operator's union contract, but Fanatics has reportedly refused to agree to the basic tenets of a union contract, union members said.
As a result, some of the merchandise employees lost hours and lost health insurance, according to union members.
Read more about the concerns of Orioles merchandise workers here.
