This Labor Day, the success of the collaborative program is providing a rallying cause for labor and management alike while highlighting an innovative strategy for leveraging large construction projects to strengthen the region's workforce.

"We agreed at the outset that we would make the Stadium and Exhibition Center project an opportunity for workers to begin successful careers in construction trades," said Bob Dilger, member of the Washington State Public Stadium Authority Board of Directors and former Executive Secretary of the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council. "We've met the aggressive goal we set and established a successful model that can be used in the future."

Also cause for cheers at the stadium job site: along with their experienced mentors, the apprentices are doing a great job. Construction is on schedule, on budget and meeting every benchmark for quality.

"The productivity of the workers on this project, including apprentices, has been phenomenal," said Turner Construction Company Project Executive Gus Sestrap. "They have played a role in making the stadium project one of our highest-productivity jobs in the entire country."

Lead partners in the apprenticeship project include the Washington State Public Stadium Authority (PSA), First & Goal, Inc., Turner Construction, and the Seattle/King County Building and Construction Trades Council.

"We are very proud of the commitment to apprenticeships that has grown right along with the concrete and steel of these structures," said Ray Colliver of First & Goal. "The apprentices in the various trades have made valuable contributions that have helped to define the success and spirit of this project."

"The apprenticeship program includes men and women of many ethnic backgrounds who are becoming established in carpentry, electrical, ironworking, masonry, painting, plumbing and other important fields," said Peter Coates, Executive Secretary of the Building and Construction Trades Council. "The program has helped turn this job site into a stage for some very dramatic and inspiring stories of opportunity and success, including many apprentices who have graduated from their respective training programs while working on the stadium project."

"Apprenticeships are important not just because they change the lives of individual workers and families but because they provide opportunities across generations, genders and racial groups," Dilger said. "These are very important public benefits we're proud to join in celebrating this Labor Day."

Apprentices available for media interviews
The apprentices who are contributing to the success of the apprenticeship program come from many walks of life and can provide a broad array of stories about their experiences in helping to build the Washington State Football and Soccer Stadium.

Please contact Suanne Pelley at (206) 205-8620 to arrange an interview with an apprentice participating in the program.