Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
A coalition of Washington, D.C., unions have reached an agreement with the Washington Commanders to create hundreds of union-protected jobs tied to the NFL team’s proposed stadium project.
The 190-acre RFK Stadium first opened in 1961 as a multi-purpose venue and hosted multiple professional sports teams, concerts and other events over the course of several decades. The stadium has been largely out of use since 2017, but now that ownership has been transferred over to the District of Columbia, there have been efforts to revitalize the space to bring the Commanders’ home field back to the nation’s capital.
Hours before the D.C. Council prepared to vote on whether to move the redevelopment proposal along, the Metropolitan Washington Council, the Baltimore-DC Metro Building Trades Council, 32BJ SEIU and UNITE HERE Local 25 announced that they had reached an exciting labor agreement with the team to ensure that the work created by this project are good-paying union jobs with quality benefits.
“After several months of negotiations, our labor organizations have reached and signed agreements with the Commanders ownership team, ensuring that the stadium and adjacent hotels create quality construction and post-construction jobs for District residents,” said the coalition in a joint statement. “We now have a truly transformative development project that will bring the Commanders back home to the District of Columbia and ensure that those who will build and who will work at these properties have decent wages, health insurance, and a pension.”