As NHL lockout lingers, Minnesota Wild employees prepare for 20 per cent pay cuts

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Wild staff will take a 20 per cent reduction in pay next month, unless league owners and players settle their issues by then.

Wild spokesman Aaron Sickman confirmed employees were told of the cutbacks in a company-wide meeting Tuesday, when the lockout reached its 73rd day. All NHL games have already been cancelled through Dec. 14. Wild staff will begin four-day, 32-hour work weeks starting Dec. 9 and see their paychecks reduced beginning Dec. 28, if no new collective bargaining agreement is in place. No layoffs have been ordered, at this point.

When the lockout began, Wild executives and other staff making more than $70,000 annually took pay cuts between 30 and 35 per cent of their earnings. Sickman said those reductions remain in place.