The company in charge of food concessions at Target Field has resorted to busing in workers from Illinois and Wisconsin after getting too few Minnesota applicants to fill the part-time jobs.
The general manager of Delaware North Sportservice, Pete Spike, tells KARE 11 the company bused in 150 workers from Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Chicago over the weekend to work as cooks, cashiers, and dishwashers among other jobs.
Spike tells the station in addition to paying the temporary employees for their work, Delaware North also covered their transportation costs and hotel rooms.
He tells MPR News the cost of the bus trips alone came to $2,500 over the weekend.
Target Field vendor told me 2 busloads of workers up from Chicago for 2 games. Not enuf locals? Know anything @mnnoc @votegriffin? #mntwins
— David Brauer (@dbrauer) April 16, 2016
Mike Griffin, one of the leaders of the Minneapolis group Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, told KARE it’s “outrageous” that the ballpark’s concessionaire is turning to other states when plenty of unemployed people in the Twin Cities could use the jobs.
Target Field criticized for busing in out-of-state concessions workers https://t.co/c5YPLYjIJY pic.twitter.com/bskzzVw8lh
— MPR News (@MPRnews) April 18, 2016
Spike says Delaware North wants to hire locally and has scheduled two job fairs for later this month. He told both MPR and KARE that about 90 percent of applicants get hired.
The Star Tribune notes that last year Delaware North found much of its Target Field help through temp agencies, but worker advocates criticized the policies of those agencies.
This year the company planned to hire more of its concession workers directly but has not had enough applicants.
Scheduling is complicated by the fact that staffing needs vary depending upon attendance at Twins games.
.@delawarenorth is hosting a job fair at Target Field on April 21 from 2-7pm. For more info call 612-659-3974. pic.twitter.com/YbHn3rFwWU
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 18, 2016
A Target Field executive tells the Star Tribune workers need to be at least 16 years old, have a valid ID, and pass a background check and drug test. Spike says pay is $12 to $14 an hour with shifts usually lasting six to nine hours.
