DC Workers & Leaders Rally Around "First Source" Law

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)DC City Council members, construction workers, city residents and community groups are rallying around a threatened DC jobs law. A coalition of anti-union contractors is trying to nullify the 30-year-old First Source law, which requires construction projects receiving District funds to hire a set percentage of D.C. residents. The jobs stimulus law was designed to combat D.C.'s historically high unemployment rate, and supporters worry that if the builders' coalition wins their lawsuit, “First Source will disappear, making it easier for construction companies to take D.C.'s money and contracts without hiring the workers who live right down the street from these projects,” says Laborers Local 657. D.C. residents are “drastically underrepresented in the D.C. construction workforce and on District-funded projects in particular” largely because of construction contractors' “discriminatory attitudes about D.C. residents,” adds Anthony W. Frederick Sr., business manager of the Laborers 657. “What (contractors) are basically saying is, 'We’re going to take the public dollars, but don’t make us hire DC residents,'” said DC Council member Michael Brown at a June 14 rally. “That’s unacceptable.”  Click here for video of the 6/14 rally. - photo still from video