By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 2, 2007

D.C. residents have worked about one-third of the total hours of skilled labor needed to build the Washington Nationals stadium, despite an agreement between the city government and labor unions that half of the hours would go to city workers.

The data, provided by the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which is overseeing the construction, show that city residents have worked 32 percent of the nearly 650,000 hours worked by journeymen, which include those in trades such as ironwork, electrical, roofing and plumbing.

Although the vast majority of lower-paid apprentice work has gone to D.C. residents -- 91 percent -- the stadium contractors have not met the goal of 100 percent established in the labor agreement signed by former mayor Anthony A. Williams's administration, the commission and the labor unions.

The figures have frustrated some D.C. leaders who supported the $611 million investment of public money for the stadium complex with the expectation that the project would provide many jobs for residents.

"I'm not happy about it," said D.C. Council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), who oversees the Economic Development Committee. Although Brown noted that the figures are an improvement from the percentage of hours worked by D.C. residents on the Washington Convention Center, he said: "There's still work to be done."

Courtland Cox, who works on hiring issues for the sports commission, said his agency has had three meetings with subcontractors to explain the hiring requirements. But officials at Clark/Hunt/Smoot, the three-company conglomerate that is building the stadium, said that the subcontractors have had trouble finding enough skilled laborers and that the unions have failed to provide them.

"We're going to do our very best, but if the people aren't there, they're not there," said Chrystal Stowe, a spokeswoman for Clark/Hunt/Smoot. "It's a function of individuals not having the skills required to fulfill the position requirements."

Under the terms of the labor agreement, if a union is unable to provide D.C. workers to meet a request from a subcontractor, it can ask for assistance from the city's Department of Employment Services. If the agency cannot find a qualified applicant within 48 hours, the subcontractor is free to hire from outside the city.

Jerry Lozupone, executive secretary-treasurer of the Washington D.C. Building and Construction Trades Council, which crafted the labor agreement with the city, declined to comment yesterday about the data.

Lozupone said statements he made to the Washington City Paper last month for an article about the hiring figures were taken out of context. In the article, Lozupone appeared to question whether the D.C. government ever took the hiring goals seriously.

The District could seek to impose fines on contractors that do not hire enough local workers, but no firms have been sanctioned. Cox said he will wait a few months before rendering judgment on the firms, because this fall is the peak construction period for the stadium -- which is due to open in April -- and the figures could improve.

Susan Gilbert, an associate director of the Department of Employment Services, said her office has done job fairs, broadcasts, Web postings and other advertising to find skilled workers for the stadium. But in certain trades, such as ironwork, the District traditionally has had trouble supplying enough trained workers.

Some say the labor agreement, which mandated that the ballpark construction jobs go to union employees, was a mistake.

Today, a new group called the District Economic Empowerment Coalition is scheduled to release a study on the figures that paints an even bleaker picture. The report says the share of journeyman hours worked by D.C. residents is 29 percent, based on an analysis of the sports commission's data.

Sam Brooks, a D.C. resident who helped put the study together, said the coalition is a nonprofit organization funded by nonunion construction companies.

The ballpark "is a very public project where we should have hit a home run, but instead we've fallen down," Brooks said. "What about next time? Will they always sign agreements that end up broken?"

But Cox said the labor agreement was a good idea, no matter the final result.

"Even if the story says we didn't have the workforce to do what was necessary, especially in the skilled trades," Cox said, "it tells us where we are and tells us where we need to engage in training programs and begin to work with District residents to get them involved."