D.C. Residents Fed Up with Jobs Run-Around

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Black DC residents say they’re “sick of the run-around,” for construction jobs in the District. They picketed yesterday, outside the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, now under construction. DC Jobs or Else leader Reverend George C. Gilbert Jr. said that when he went down to the worksite three weeks ago with six unemployed residents to apply for jobs, “the superintendent told us there was no hiring done on the site and that we had to go to the Department of Employment Services (DOES).  (But) when I called DOES, they said they weren’t the human resource division of Clark and they couldn’t understand why Clark had referred us there.” Gilbert said that getting the chance to help build the new Museum of African American History and Culture was a point of personal pride and honor for members of the local black community, and many District residents feel Clark Construction has disrespected them by turning away applicants for jobs. “Why do we have to picket them for them to do what is right?” asked Gilbert. “We refuse to sit by and wait for them to receive an epiphany. We demand jobs now!” Black D.C. residents hold a disproportionately small percentage of the 11,000 construction jobs in the District, notes DC Jobs or Else, while unemployment rates for city residents are as much as three times the national average in certain wards. Click here to check out a video of the action.  - photos by Jaime Flores (MA LiUNA)