Last week’s Reporter included a report on a Dec. 23 event at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 Hall in Lower Mills in which Gov. Healey signed an executive order on ways to increase construction jobs for women and minorities. At one time, there were virtually no women in the construction trades in Massachusetts. Now, just over 10 percent of the state’s union tradespeople are women, according to state figures. That’s more than three times the national average.

The Policy Group on Tradeswomen’s Issues (PGTI) is one group that has helped hundreds of women find good-paying construction jobs and that supports them once they are on the job.  Women like Liz Skidmore from the Carpenters Union, Susan Moir, and others have been leading this effort for years.

The effort has involved the creation of a pipeline from the Building Pathways Pre-Apprentice Training program to a union apprenticeship job in one of the 18 building trades. Building Pathways was launched in 2011 by Marty Walsh, when he was with the Greater Boston Building Trades Council before becoming mayor. He wanted to open up union construction jobs to more minority and women candidates. For many years Mary Vogel led and built up the Building Pathways program and Nancy Luc now leads it.

The Mass. Building Trades Council, headed by Frank Callahan, and the Greater Boston Building Trades Council, headed by Dorchester’s Brian Doherty, have been strong supporters for many years. And Chrissy Lynch, the president of MA AFL-CIO, has been instrumental as well.

Then there’s the Massachusetts Girls in the Trades, led by Maryanne Ham and others, that is reaching many hundreds of girls in 18 high schools to engage them in considering these career opportunities.

Shamaiah Turner, an African American sheet metal worker since 2012, got her start in the Building Pathways Pre-Apprentice Program. She addressed the recent gathering and pointed to the 60 women in her union.

Goals for hiring of women and minorities on construction jobs are best achieved through Access and Opportunity Committees (AOCs). These include contractors, public officials, union officials, and community groups who review weekly hiring reports detailing hours worked and number of minorities and women working those hours. This leads to subcontractors being informed up front that they will be reviewed on these standards. And when not met, corrective action meetings are held to move them toward reaching the goals.

AOCs have been used at UMass Boston and UMass Amherst construction projects and for the three casinos. The state will now employ AOCs to upcoming multi-billion construction projects at North Station, the Allston Turnpike Interchange, the Cape Cod bridges, and other developmentss.

Boston also has a Resident Jobs Policy calling for hiring 50 percent Boston residents, 40 percent minorities, and 10 percent women. That dates back to organizing efforts of the United Community Construction Workers led by Chuck Turner in the 1970s and 1980s.

Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) mandate union workers on a construction project. The recently passed Economic Development bill calls for them on all state projects. PLAs also now include a section setting up an Access and Opportunity Committee for each construction project.

To apply to become a union construction worker, visit this link to 18 building trades unions and the different annual times to apply:
mass.gov/doc/Massachusetts-union-apprenticeship-recruitment-opportunities/download.

Our organization, MA Action for Justice, has worked on these issues, too. We led an organizing effort in 2010 that resulted in more than over $1 million in annual state funding to five pre-apprentice training programs, including Building Pathways and YouthBuild Boston. We also worked on the successful national campaign alongside the Laborers Union, Painters Union, and community groups to get a section added to the federal Bi-Partisan Infrastructure bill – targeted hiring policies for hiring of women and minorities on those construction projects to be funded in that $1.2 trillion bill by the US Department of Transportation.

Lew Finfer is a Dorchester resident and director of the MA Action for Justice organization.