Manitoba's labour shortage has hit an unlikely occupation: Zamboni driver.

A number of community clubs in Winnipeg are scrambling to deal with a shortage of arena attendants, who not only drive the ice-surfacing machines but maintain the arena as a whole.

While many people say Zamboni driver Joey Flack has 'the sweetest job,' not so many are lining up to join his profession.
(CBC)

Joey Flack, who drives the Zamboni at the Dakota Community Club, has had to clock 10-hour days as his club tries to find more workers.

"I've heard people, you know, remark, 'Man, you have the sweetest job,'" Flack said Wednesday. 

Sweet, maybe. In Manitoba, arena attendants make $15 to $21 an hour.

But not necessarily easy. Arena attendants must have a power engineering refrigeration certificate, which requires 80 hours of classroom training as well as 900 hours of on-the-job training.

"There just isn't enough qualified guys that have the certification to just jump into the job," Flack said.

City superintendent John Atkinson said Wednesday that he is worried about an upcoming wave of retiring rink attendants.

"Most of our employees now are between 25- and 30-year employees, so there is a need for upcoming arena attendants," he said.

The Dakota Community Centre has come up with a solution: it will cover trainees' costs of taking the power engineering refrigeration training, as well as pay trainees' wages, as long as they promise to work at the Dakota rink for a year afterwards.

The city of Winnipeg and the union representing city employees will also help cover the costs of training.