More lockout realities: Wild staffers take pay cut, shorter work week

The unfortunate part of the NHL lockout is how it affects those not playing hockey or owning teams.

Michael Russo of The Star-Tribune reports employees of the Minnesota Wild, 200 of them, will be taking a cut in pay and going to a four-day work week because of the now 73-day old lockout. On the upside, no one is losing their job and Wild COO Matt Majka had an interesting way of explaining the cuts.

“Our whole philosophy is we’re all in this together,” Majka said. “We want to keep the staff intact because we still think we can play hockey this year. That’s why we’re announcing no layoffs. It’s an all-for-one thing, and that’s why we’re going to do it this way with everyone feeling it a little bit.”

Working sure beats not working, especially these days, so that’s a good thing. Still, you can’t help but think how workers in Minnesota and at the NHL home offices, where they’ve undergone a similar slash in pay and work time, feel about having all of this happen because of something out of their control.