O’Connor: Get ‘The Charger Girls’ a labor union like the Teamsters

I can’t believe it’s legal.

Who’s minding the NFL?

Thanks to a generous brother, I was given tickets to Sunday’s San Diego Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs game. I wanted to see why, or if, San Diego needed a new stadium at taxpayers’ expense.

From the opening moments of the Chargers spilling onto the field from the players’ tunnel, to the final moments of the lopsided San Diego victory — I couldn’t believe the talent, the athleticism, the discipline, and the precision…

…of the Chargers cheerleaders!

These women, called “The Chargers’ Girls,” inhaled clouds of smoke while lining the players’ entrance, and kept their pom poms twirling above their heads without dropping a smile.

Throughout the entire first half, they performed arduous and complex dance/jazzercise routines in synchronization that would make Olympians proud.

An often repeated gesture required the cheerleaders to drop their heads (with long, heavy manes of hair) towards the ground, and quickly flip their torsos straight up. In short, a movement that would give most running backs whiplash.

In perpetual motion for the entire half, they never stopped for water, had any coaches offer to ice their knees, or received any real applause from the crowd, even after prompting from the announcer, “Let’s hear it for The Chargers’ Girls.”

These women spent more time on the field than the rather lame Chiefs’ offensive unit.

These women performed like a military drill team. They jumped, twisted, twirled, pranced and performed hyperactive routines in the end zones, sidelines, and in front of the TV cameras.

Surely, they must get paid a decent wage for all this work; auditions, training, workouts, etc.

They work 10 home games; practice laboriously, and are reminded (on The Chargers’ Girls Web site) that this is a part-time job.

However, the pay is barely minimum wage: $75 a game. They must arrive at approximately the same time as the tailgaters (4 hours before game time at 9 a.m.); and stay until the final moments (around 5 p.m.).

None of this includes practice times, travel times, cost for hair styling, makeup, maintenance of equipment, etc.

However, there are some other perks. They can earn money for “guest appearances,” as well as some free travel.

The New England Patriots sent their “cheerleaders” to Aruba for a 2010 calendar shoot. It is unclear who reaps the profit from those sales.

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The Buffalo Bills cheerleaders are given “discounted gym memberships.”

And the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders participated in a reality TV show that demonstrated the steps towards achieving what the Cowboy Web site calls “every girls’ dream.”

I understand that the cheerleaders also get free game tickets, a parking place, and receive exposure to a large television audience during game lulls.

However, none of this seems fair in 2009; when the NFL team owners and players reap millions of dollars in pay and profits. Surely, some of this largesse could be directed to the “Girls.”

Long ago and not far way, San Diego’s Pacific Southwest Airlines’ stewardesses were told to don a new, brightly colored, skimpy uniform, that many women of the 1970s considered offensive and inappropriate attire for their job. At the time, most other airline flight attendants wore business suits.

PSA insisted on the mini skirt uniforms. The Teamsters Union struck the airlines in 1973 and shortly thereafter, secured huge pay concessions for the flight attendants, and the subsequent withdrawal of the “hot pants” uniforms.

If a union is good enough for the NFL players, it should be good enough for “The Chargers’ Girls.” These women deserve better than to work as hard as they do for skimpy wages in skimpy uniforms.

Bring on the Teamsters.

Colleen M. O’Connor is a former college history professor, the director of the “Faces of San Diego 2000″ family photographic history project and co-editor of Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Journey.  She is an SDNN political columnist and can be reached at CoConnor15x(a)Yahoo.com

Tags: buffalo bills, chargers cheerleaders, Dallas Cowboys, Football, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, NFL, pacific southwest airlines, psa, San Diego Chargers, SDNN, sunday football, teamsters, the chargers girls, unions

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 6:43 am and is filed under Columns, Politics Opinion . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.