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Heat Staffers Suffer Another Pay Cut

MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – As multi-millionaires and billionaires continue to fight in the NBA lockout dispute, the real victims are suffering pay cuts and layoffs.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Miami Heat staffers who had already had their salaries cut by 10 percent on July 1; saw their pay cut another 25 percent last Saturday. That pay level will exist until March 31 unless the lockout ends before then.

If the lockout lasts past March 31, which would entail an entire regular season lost the pay cuts would raise to 50 percent.

The Post reported that staffers were surprised and disappointed by the pay cuts. The staffers are the unfortunate collateral damage in the ongoing dispute.

As of Wednesday, the lockout seemed to be entering another phase of finger-pointing and no meetings to solve the issues. By Friday, the NBA will begin cancelling regular season games which will hit players in the wallet.

The NBA owners have been inflexible so far in their demands that the players eat the entire $300 million the owners lost last season.

The players have agreed to drop their share of the basketball-related income down to 53 percent instead of 57 percent.

But the owners have steadfastly refused to go above 47-48 percent for the players. The owners then offered a 50/50 split on Tuesday, but again demanded the players eat more of the losses to make up for their losses.

Against the backdrop of arguing over $300 million, low paid staffers of every NBA team are continuing to suffer.

The NFL had a similar problem during its lockout, but most owners paid back salaries for the cuts that were enacted.

But, the NFL owners and players knew they had a cash cow on their hands and weren't about to jeopardize the money from an entire season.

The NBA owners are more than willing to sit out the season in hopes of squeezing as much money from the players as possible.

There are no scheduled meetings between the two sides in the near future.

NBA commissioner David Stern threatened the players that the owners would harden their positions once regular season games are lost, which seems to be inevitable at this point.

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