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The Dripby Brew Editors2:05 pmDec 19, 20120

Casino group agrees to promote hiring of Baltimore residents

Baltimore city reached an agreement today with CBAC Gaming LLC, a group consisting of Caesars Entertainment Corp. and local investors, to promote the hiring of Baltimore City residents for the anticipated 2,000 construction jobs and 1,700 permanent jobs at the South Baltimore casino.

A “local jobs” Memorandum of Understanding – approved today by the Board of Estimates – calls on CBAC/Caesars to work collaboratively with the city to implement a community recruitment and hiring plan and to help potential applicants qualify for casino jobs.

Key aspects of the MOU include:

  • A  community recruitment coordinator, funded by Caesars, will join the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) to oversee the casino’s local hiring initiative and “aggressively market” qualified city residents to casino contractors and subcontractors.
  • CBAC will give priority to city residents who are qualified to fill its open jobs and seek out candidates who “demonstrate a strong knowledge of and familiarity with Baltimore city culture, lifestyle and amenities.”
  • CBAC will comply with the provisions of the Mayor’s “Employ Baltimore” executive order and will direct its contractors and subcontractors to comply with the requirements, which include meeting with the mayor’s business services staff prior to contract awards, provide MOED with workforce plans that describe the expected number of job openings and post new jobs at the city’s career centers.
  • Every six months, Caesars and its contractors and subcontractors will submit workforce reports to MOED disclosing the number of casino project employees who are city residents.

Number of Union Jobs Unclear

Separately, Caesars Entertainment told The Daily Record that it would “absolutely” use some union labor to build the facility.

Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., the $400 million project’s general contractor, has not said how many union jobs may be open at the site.

Whiting-Turner has, however, agreed to voluntary goals of 25% minority hiring and 10% hiring of women-owned businesses during construction, which is expected to begin early in 2013 and last through mid-2014.

Here and here for more background on the casino.

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