Updated: 08/19/2009 1:22 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Becky Nahm

Group Protests MnDOT Hiring Practices

Protestors Say MnDOT Lacks Minorities, Women

Protesters who claim MNDOT is not doing enough to make sure construction companies that land state contracts are hiring women and minorities, held a demonstration Wednesday.

A group called "Hire Minnesota" gathered at a MnDOT job sight on Interstate 35w near 46th Street. The group is made up of a coalition of religious and civil rights groups.

Hire Minnesota said, since MnDOT gives taxpayer money to private contractors build and work on our roads, the agency should make sure an appropriate number of minorities and women workers are included in those projects.

Wednesday's gathering wasn't the group's first. Last month nearly 200 members of Hire Minnesota donned hard hats and protested at MnDOT offices in St. Paul. Members said they have no plans to stop.

Louis King, who heads Summit Academy, a Minneapolis trade school that trains minorities and women, said, "We feel they are listening but not responding. No one should be left on the sidelines."

A MnDOT spokesman counters that the agency has 17 initiatives in place designed to attract qualified minority and women workers.