We’ve had a chance to take a look at the impact the LIBOR Barclays Center has had on the local economy so far, but even for businesses that aren’t in love with it, stadium proponents could always say, “But there are jobs there!” Not all jobs are created equal however, and in news that’s not totally shocking, DNA Info found that almost every job at Barclays is part-time work and comes with no benefits.
To be fair to Barclays, the employees are at least unionized, represented by SEIU 32BJ. That’s probably the only good news, though, since out of the 2000 people working at the arena, 1900 of them have part-time jobs in housekeeping, facilities management and concessions. A Barclays Center spokesperson wouldn’t say how much employees make per hour there, only that the wages were “competitive with the local market.” Which, since the Trader Joe’s up Atlantic Ave pays $10/hour, doesn’t necessarily bode well.
Which isn’t to say that people expected stadium jobs to pay $50,000 a year and come with top-notch insurance. But, as an activist who spoke to the site pointed out, given the huge public subsidies handed to the stadium, it comes out to $375,000 per job, for almost exclusively part-time work. Which proves, as always, that the best jobs out there are the ones that involve talking the government into giving you a lot of money.
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This piece sums up the inequity of it all.
Quothe:
"It’s a neoliberal Trojan Horse that brings a tremendous amount of capital that flows up and barely trickles down. As for infrastructure, city officials trumpet the millions an event like the Super Bowl will bring into the city, while not saying a word about the billions in corporate welfare that goes into making the gathering “suitable” for the thousands of outside guests."
looking for part time employment,working at the center