The Milwaukee Bucks, in partnership with the Alliance for Good Jobs, today launched a new organization that will place an upwards of 1,000 Milwaukee-area workers in living wage jobs at the new arena, slated to open this fall, and in its surrounding district.
Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH) will recruit, screen and train workers for service and hospitality jobs and connect them with interested employers throughout the arena district. Hourly wages for these jobs start at $12.50 in 2018 and by 2023, will increase to $15.
“You can pay workers a fair wage and also be a profitable business,” said Alex Lasry, Milwaukee Bucks senior vice president. “We need to make sure we have the best workers and best laborers that are out there. By getting the best talent in Milwaukee, we are going to have the best arena, and that’s what we’re hoping to create with this partnership.”
MASH will host job fairs this spring to recruit workers for arena district jobs that will be available by June. Lasry said the Bucks will start hiring workers later this summer. Starting today, interested workers can apply on the organization’s website.
“We are recruiting workers to build a pipeline, but it’s not just a bunch of bodies coming in the door,” Peter Rickman, executive director of MASH said. “We are providing pre-employment and on-going skill and occupational training so that when employers are looking for the right hire, they’re going to find it from this hiring hub.”
The program will target workers who reside in specified Milwaukee ZIP codes that are most affected by underemployment or unemployment as the Bucks committed in 2016 that half of all arena district jobs be filled by workers from those areas.
