Honking horns, stopping traffic and shouting ``Liars, Liars, Liars!,'' hundreds of laborers and construction workers picketed the new Florida Marlins stadium under construction in Little Havana Tuesday morning, claiming that they have been denied promised jobs.

The workers -- from unions, local construction companies and independent contractors -- said they were protesting the baseball team's failure to use local workers to help build the new stadium.

``The stadium was supposed to bring jobs here and help improve our economy. But that's a lie,'' said Jesus Contreras, who said he was turned down for a job.

Also demonstrating was Raul Casares, president of RC Aluminum, whose company's bid was rejected in favor of a company from Indiana, he said.

``There's some hanky panky going on here,'' he added.

A Marlins representative contended that the crowd's claims were untrue. The team said it exceeded local participation goals in the project, with 59 percent of the workers and companies hired coming from Miami-Dade.

Marlins officials say the latest numbers represents a significant increase above the 35 percent aspirational goals approved by county and Miami commissioners. And they said that 94 percent of the workers live in Florida, with 61 percent from Miami-Dade County and 22 percent in the city of Miami.