Foreign workers continue to fill the labor void

By CONSTANCE SEE - Whitefish Pilot

Winter skiing is scheduled to begin Dec. 8 at the Whitefish Mountain Resort. But like many other seasonal employers, Winter Sports Inc. started preparing for its peak season months ago by lining up foreign employees.

In August, a WSI human resource employee flew to South America to personally interview students for 65-70 positions at the resort, ranging from restaurant staff to lift operators. The first wave of students from Chile, Argentina and Brazil should arrive Dec. 5, according to WSI spokesperson Donnie Clapp.

"Anyone who wants a job has one," Clapp said, citing the 2.5 percent unemployment rate in the Flathead Valley. "It means that we have to be creative when we're searching for the hundreds of employees we need to hire every winter."

At Grouse Mountain Lodge, human resource director Karen Baker said that even though the company has increased its wages and benefits were added, some positions are still impossible to fill. The most difficult jobs to hire for are housekeepers and dishwashers, she said.

Baker has ordered nine foreign students for the winter season from Hospitality and Catering Management, a Chicago-based personnel service she used last year.

"It costs me more to hire foreign students because you have to pay the agency that brings them here, but by the end of September, all the local students I hire are gone, and we still have guests into October," Baker said. "I know housekeeping and dishwashing jobs are some of the hardest to do, and that's part of the reason the turnover is high. The owners and I have made beds and bused tables. Everybody helps out any way we can."

With the Canadian dollar rising in value against the U.S. dollar, Baker expects tourism figures to be higher this winter.

Business is growing, said Janece Burke, executive vice president of Hospitality and Catering Management. In addition to Grouse Mountain, Burke is also providing staff this year for Markus Foods and several places throughout the state. The students she's providing come from Peru and Brazil.

"We've learned from our students and try to have housing options for them when they get to town," Burke said. "A lot of landlords, however, don't want to give a short-term lease or don't want to lease to students away from home for the first time. Housing is one of the largest issues."

Markus Foods has ordered two foreign students for the winter season. They ordered four last summer from Hospitality and Catering Management and were very impressed, but manager Dave Johnson would prefer to hire locally.

Johnson said he pays about $9 an hour for foreign laborers. The agency pays the students a percent of that figure.

"If I could get good employees for $12 an hour and keep them all the time, I would," Johnson said. "We don't want to pass up good help."

Scott Ringer, general manager for The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, said he will nearly double his staff in summertime, but hiring is not an issue in the winter. Nearly 95 percent of his staff are locals, he said.

"Housing is an issue," Ringer said. "Last year, one of my staff co-signed for our housing for our foreign staff. I believe there is a need for some kind of dorm housing. It would have to be near the tracks on Wisconsin or on Highway 93, where there's a public route."

Johnson agreed that housing costs is a large piece of the labor problem.

"I know younger kids here that are rooming with four or five other people so they can all afford to live here," he said. "My sons live here and are struggling, too. Some of my family moved away because of the cost. It's a sad situation. The housing market has fallen a little bit. I just hope there's a little bit of a break coming up."

Tina Minette of Kalispell started Albay Personnel Services after reading an article last winter in the Pilot. She learned about foreign students working in Whitefish who had no blankets or cooking utensils and waited nearly a month to get their first paycheck.

Born and raised in the Albay Province of the Philippines, Minette obtained her master's in business administration and spent more than a decade working in the personnel department for Unocal in the Philippines.

"My husband tells me I should write my doctoral thesis on the labor-market issues here," she said. "I talked to several of the students working in Whitefish and Kalispell. Some were working for four months just to pay back the agency fees. It costs them $3,500 to get a job here. I decided to start my own service. I will make sure they are taken care of. My husband and I talked about possibly taking some of them into our own home."

Minette leaves for the Philippines on Nov. 20. She will spend two months interviewing potential employees to bring back to the Flathead next summer.

"I've worked with hundreds of Filipino staff when I worked in Aruba," Ringer said. "They're fabulous. I think it's great she's starting the company. I've never met the people at the company we deal with in Texas. With all due respect, they don't care about the Flathead like a local company would."