Building trades members were out in force at D.C. city hall on Wednesday, rallying outside the building and then filling council chambers during their hearings. They called on councilmembers to maintain D.C.’s project labor agreement (PLA) law and require quality union jobs on the construction and post-construction of the Commanders’ new stadium.
“We want it built union with good wages, with D.C. residents,” said Steve Lanning with LiUNA Local 11. “We want the stadium to have a project labor agreement all around it, not just for the stadium.”
“We want it built union with good wages, with D.C. residents. We want the stadium to have a project labor agreement all around it, not just for the stadium.”
Steve Lanning
LiUNA Local 11
Steve Lanning with LiUNA Local 11 speaks at the May 7 rally in front of DC city hall.Â
At the end of April, the Commanders and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a $4 billion deal to construct the new home for the NFL team in the District at the site the old RFK Stadium.
The building trades are calling for the project to include a PLA that supports local hiring requirements, providing D.C. residents with family-supporting career opportunities in construction.
Ward 7 resident Trevon Epps, Sr., told the rally that he had struggled for years to find good employment opportunities in the District. As an apprentice with IBEW Local 26 through the D.C. Step-Up program, he says he is now on a path to be able to sustain an income to feed his family.
“I come from the hard part of D.C.” said Epps. “And I’m here to tell you, if you keep fighting, you keep dreaming, you keep believing, we’ll be able to make D.C. great — with D.C. people. We can do it.”Â
The building trades and other unions, including UNITE-HERE Local 25, are also calling for a PLA that supports union jobs at the stadium after its completion, and in hospitality and service jobs in new development around the stadium.Â
“Just as we want it built union with D.C. residents,” said Lanning, “we want post-construction all those jobs to be union. It’s too damn hard to live in this city. And we expect our government to support working families in good-paying jobs, through the end.”
Watch video from the rally:Â