(Washington, DC) The Department of Employment Services (DOES) is continuing to work with stadium contractors (Clark/Hunt/Smoot, Joint Venture) and the unions (Washington Building and Construction Trades Council and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters) to recruit District workers for the new Baseball Stadium.

To date, the District’s First Source agreement, which requires that at least 51 percent of all new hires on the Stadium Project are District of Columbia residents, has reached and exceeded its requirement by 6 percent (at 57 percent).  As of July 31, 2007, there were 217 new apprentices hired.  Of that number, 196 or 90 percent were District of Columbia residents.  The goal by the end of the project, schedule to be completed in March/April 2008, is 100 percent. 

Summer Spencer, Director of the Department of Employment Services, explained that the city has been challenged by efforts to recruit journey workers.  “The number of District residents working in every other aspect of this project has been good,” said Ms. Spencer; “however we will continue to push for the recruitment of more experienced workers in the trades.”  She also stated that the number of District residents employed on this project, far out weight those who worked on the Washington Convention Center project, and that this is the largest number of District apprentices to work on a construction project of this type.

The Project Labor Agreement requires the unions to provide labor for the stadium construction; however if they experience problems finding qualified District workers, then they can turn to DOES for assistance.  In conjunction with various unions, DOES has co-sponsored 14 trade related recruitment fairs for the new stadium.  The final major recruitment fair will be held on October 30, 2007 at the Naylor One-Stop Career Center, located at 2626 Naylor Road, SE.

For additional information regarding job recruitment, contact the Department of Employment Services at (202) 724-7000, or visit us at www.does.dc.gov.