Metro CEO Art Leahy, Metro Board Member Jackie Dupont-Walker, LeDaya Epps, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and James Martinez at the Crenshaw/Expo Yard. Photo Luis Inzunza/Metro.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez visited the Crenshaw/LAX Line project on Monday as part of a nationwide tour leading up to Labor Day on September 1. Perez was welcomed by Metro Board Member Jackie Dupont-Walker, Metro CEO Art Leahy and two workers from the Walsh/Shea Corridor Construction (WSCC) apprenticeship program, LeDaya Epps and James Martinez Safety Technician.

Also in attendance were: U.S. Representative Maxine Waters; Ron Miller, Executive Secretary, Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building Trades Council; Lola Smallwood Cuevas, Project Director UCLA Labor Center/Los Angeles Black Worker Center; Erich Engler, Business Manager WSCC; Ernest Roberts, Executive Director PV Jobs; Jan Perry, General Manager, Economic & Workforce Development Department, city of Los Angeles; Nolan V. Rollins, President & CEO Los Angeles Urban League, and; Charles Beauvoir, Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project Director.

WSCC laborer worker LeDaya Epps welcome U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez as Metro CEO Art Leahy witnesses. (Photo Luis Inzunza/Metro).

WSCC James Martinez Safety Technician, Secretary Perez and LeDaya Epps walk through at the construction site at Crenshaw Blvd. and Rodeo Road. (Photo Luis Inzunza/Metro.)

After the session ended elected officials and special guests gather around Secretary Perez for a photo opportunity at the Crenshaw/LAX IPMO. Photo Luis Inzunza/Metro).

Metro CEO and U.S. Labor Secretary talk about the new light rail line now under construction as Metro Board Member Jackie Dupont-Walker witnesses. (Photo Luis Inzunza/Metro.)

Perez praised Metro for implementation of the innovative Project Labor Agreement and Career Construction Project (PLA/CCP), the first program of its kind for a transit agency. The programs seek to help those who reside in economically disadvantaged areas find jobs and training opportunities on Metro projects. Please click here for more information.

The 8.5-mile Crenshaw/LAX Line will connect the Green and Expo line with nine new stations that will run through the Crenshaw District, Inglewood and Westchester. Two stations are planned to serve the LAX area — one station will be at the intersection of Aviation and Century boulevards while the other will be at Aviation and 96th Street, where there will be a connection to a people mover that will run to the LAX terminals.

A brief tour of the future site of the underground Crenshaw/Expo Station was led by LeDaya Epps and James Martinez. Perez witnessed the cutter soil mix process which is the first step toward building the underground station.

The visit ended with Epps and Martinez talking to Secretary Perez about the benefits of PLA/CCP and how they are benefitting from the construction of the light rail project. U.S. Labor Department representatives previously visited Metro to overview the workforce development initiative developed as a result of Metro’s groundbreaking PLA/CCP. Metro was selected as one of the five cities that U.S. Labor Department Secretary Perez is visiting before Labor Day.