For UA Local Union 393 plumbers, pipefitters and apprentices, Super Bowl 50 was a day to celebrate. Not because of the Denver Broncos or Carolina Panthers. It was because our members were part of the incredible team, from construction to concessions, that makes Levi’s Stadium a 100-percent union-made and union-run facility.

The $1.3 billion project is an iconic building — one that football fans probably won’t see again for decades. Our workers helped transform this empty parking lot on the edge of Great America into the greenest and most technologically advanced professional football arena in America.

Our members were on the frontlines of this project even before the shovels hit the dirt. In 2010, the Santa Clara County Building and Construction Trades Council helped lead the successful campaign to pass Measure J, bringing the San Francisco 49ers to the Silicon Valley. Union activists attended numerous hearings, walked precincts and phone banked to convince our family, friends and neighbors to make it a reality.

At the stadium’s groundbreaking in 2012, Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews proclaimed, “The 36 percent of our unemployed construction workers, our skilled people that have been out of work, suffering for years, waiting for the turnaround of the economy — it’s here. We made sure that we had a Project Labor Agreement to make sure that the people were here. We made sure that we picked a local firm to make sure that the jobs stayed here.”

Levi’s Stadium was completed in Summer 2014.

Today, our Local is honored in the Hard Hat Hall of Fame, an installation located in the main passageway under the stadium featuring the hard hats of key contractors.

More than 111.9 million people watched Super Bowl 50 played right here in Levi Stadium in Santa Clara! We are proud to say many of our own members, with other union tradesmen and women from around the area, built this beautiful stadium. Union built and union proud!

Check out more photos of the job site on our Facebook page!