In the wake of Tuesday night’s tarp failure during a Giants/Cubs tilt that was originally ruled a rain-shortened, 2-0 victory for the hosts, then played to completion early Thursday evening after San Francisco’s protest was upheld by MLB, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmeyer has found the real culprit ; Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Or more to the point, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts’ corner-cutting.
The staffing issues that hamstrung the grounds crew Tuesday during a mad dash with the tarp under a sudden rainstorm were created in part by a wide-ranging reorganization last winter of game-day personnel, job descriptions and work limits designed to keep the seasonal workers – including much of the grounds crew – under 130 hours per month, according to numerous sources with direct knowledge.
That’s the full-time worker definition under “Obamacare,” which requires employer-provided healthcare benefits for “big businesses” such as a major league team.
“Cheap,” said one of three high-ranking officials from other organizations the Sun-Times contacted Thursday – all of whom fall below the Cubs on Forbes’ annual revenues list.