Repost: Alliance Seeks to Improve Conditions for Female Construction Workers

OSHA announced the alliance and its new website for this purpose on Aug. 22.

OSHA has signed an alliance with the National Association of Women in Construction to develop training resources to protect female construction workers. It will focus on musculoskeletal and sanitation hazards and issues related to poorly-fitting PPE, and OSHA has created a related website.

"Safety and health problems in construction create barriers to women entering and remaining in this field," said Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "Through this alliance, we will work together to forge innovative solutions to improve the safety, health, and working conditions for women in the construction trades and retain female workers during a critical time of job shortages in this industry."

The two-year agreement is intended to develop training programs, fact sheets, and other outreach resources. Following a recommendation from its Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, OSHA created the Women in Construction Web page, a site that outlines and addresses safety and health issues specific to female workers in this industry.

For more information on the alliance, visit OSHA's new Women in Construction webpage or this description of the alliance.

View the original article at http://ohsonline.com.

Repost: On the Dudley Square Municipal Office Building Job Site

Check out these great videos on how "construction of the Dudley Square Municipal Office Facility is impacting the lives of a Madison Park High School student and an iron worker at the site."





See the original post by the Boston Redevelopment Authority at http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthoritynews.org.

Happy Women's Equality Day!

For those of you who are in downtown Boston today, you can celebrate Women's Equality Day right now with your fellow Bostonians:

Celebrate Women's Equality Day with Us!

Women’s Equality Day, August 26, celebrates the day women won the right to vote in 1920. We will gather at the Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Ave. Mall, between Fairfield and Gloucester Streets, from 12-1:30PM. Join City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, the first woman of color to be elected to the Boston City Council. We will have great music, voter registration, and girl scout snacks. Wear the suffrage colors of white, purple and yellow and join us. All are welcome.

Wherever you are, you can celebrate by reading this USDOL blog post about the importance of construction jobs for women and being thankful for the efforts in our community to achieve gender equality in the construction industry.

Like PGTI on Facebook!

The Policy Group on Tradeswomen's Issues can now be found on Facebook! Like us at https://www.facebook.com/Tradeswomen to follow our events, blogs, and other relevant news from the construction industry. We hope you will spread the word about our page!

Save the Date: 9/20/13 USDOL Women's Bureau & The Construction Institute Will Host "Engaging Women for STEM, Non-Traditional, and Green Careers"

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WOMEN’S BUREAU & THE CONSTRUCTION INSTITUTE INVITES YOU TO AN IMPORTANT ROUNDTABLE: ENGAGING WOMEN FOR STEM, NON-TRADITIONAL, AND GREEN CAREERS 

The roundtable will bring together leaders in the Metro Boston area to discuss potential pathways for women to become involved in careers related to science, technology, math, and engineering (STEM). This discussion will also draw on ideas for engaging women in green and non-traditional careers. Some of the topic questions to be considered are:

1. How can women qualify for STEM, Non-Traditional, and Green Careers? 
2. What opportunities are available for women in “green” jobs and STEM? 
3. How can we help women transition from traditional occupations to non-traditional ones? 

DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 2013

TIME: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Sheet Metal Workers Training Center, 1181 Adams St. Dorchester 

Attendance is free but registration is required. Space limited to 25.

RSVP: To register, please send an e-mail to Rizzolo.Angela@dol.gov by close of business hours on September 18 and include your name, organization, and telephone number.

For questions, please call: Angela Rizzolo @ 617-565-1988.

Our special thanks to the Sheet Metal Workers Training Center for co-hosting this roundtable.

Repost: Council addresses how to diversify workforce on city construction projects

An ordinance to increase diversity within the construction workforce is being considered by Seattle's City Council!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

by: Aaron Burkhalter, Staff Reporter

People of color and women make up a small portion of the workforce on city-funded construction projects. This year, people of color made up 25 percent and women represented 6 percent of the workforce on city-funded projects, said Nancy Locke, director of city purchasing and contracting services for the city of Seattle.

The Seattle City Council is exploring how to change that. The nine-member council will vote in September on a resolution directing city staff to research and propose a program that would hire more people from disadvantaged communities for construction work.

The city council’s Economic Resiliency Committee discussed the resolution Aug. 7.

The resolution stems from a request by Got Green, a South Seattle environmental and social justice nonprofit, and the Targeted Local Hire Coalition. The groups want the city’s construction contractors to hire a percentage of the workforce from poor communities, perhaps using the median income of a ZIP code or census tract as a guide.

Other cities require that up to 50 percent of the jobs on city construction projects go to people from those disadvantaged communities.

In Seattle, the Women and Minority-owned Business Enterprise program requires the city to contract out a percentage of work to businesses owned by women and people of color. It encourages the city to hire on-the-ground workers from disadvantaged communities, but does not require it.

It hasn’t helped, Locke told the Economic Resiliency Committee Aug. 7.

It’s difficult to legislate diversity in Washington state because voters passed an anti-affirmative action initiative in 1998 that prohibits state and local governments from hiring based on race or gender. Seattle is required to accept the lowest bid on a project and cannot select the contractor with the most diverse workforce.

Labor unions would support a targeted local hire program, said Jermaine Smiley of Laborers Local 242. Construction workers have a history, he said, of hiring from disadvantaged communities.

“Our union 100 years ago was started on the workers nobody wanted: African Americans, Irish workers,” Smiley said.

View the original article at http://realchangenews.org.

Repost: Women empowerment imbizo

The provincial human settlements department is set to hold a summit in Rustenburg on Friday 
to identify emerging women contractors in the province. Picture: Ishaan Haffajee

By Elfas Torerai

The provincial human settlements department is set to hold a summit in Rustenburg on Friday to identify emerging women contractors in the province.

The one- day summit is, among other things, intended to promote access to economic opportunities for women in construction.

Human settlements spokesperson Ben Bole said synergies would be created between the department and contractors to improved relations between contractors and the department. About 500 delegates are expected to attend.

“MEC Nono Maloyi is expected to address the delegates. In his address Maloyi said he would give a detailed outline on how the department had progressed in policies that are geared towards empowering women,” Bole said.

He said construction agencies that had been working with the department would provide relevant information to new entrants to construction.

“Young unemployed women will be part of the summit and will be empowered through the presentations that will be made by the human settlements agencies. This will give them a chance to join the construction sector,” he said.

The summit takes place at the Rustenburg Civic Centre, and starts at 8 in the morning.

View the original article at The New Age Online.

Repost: Women to Storm Construction Sector

Interesting article on closing the wage disparity gap among women in India's construction industry.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s rare to see women in the construction sector doing skilled jobs. You often find them carrying heavy headloads at construction sites. They are also being paid very low wages. But with the Kudumbasree Mission’s project to train women in construction and maintenance work, things may change soon.

Within three months, 150 skilled masons, 15 plumbers and 15 electricians will be trained to take up jobs at various construction sites.“The idea is to help women earn more with skills that are much in demand in this field,” Tani Thomas, the Kudumbasree district co-ordinator, told The Hindu.

The unskilled women workers in the construction sector are now being paid only Rs. 300 per day while their men counterparts demand Rs.500- Rs. 600 a day. The wage goes up to Rs.700 for skilled work.

“We are already receiving many enquiries about skilled workforce. Equipping women with skills will help them earn at least Rs.700 a day,” Ms. Thomas added.

The Rs.1 crore project is being implemented with the financial assistance from Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (Hudco) as part of their corporate social responsibility.

The Kudumbasree has set up a women’s team of 10 engineering graduates and 20 civil diploma holders for the project.

The training period is three months. The Kudumbasree mission will provide tool kits for the women labourers. It will also come up with an equipment lending station. “The equipments would be available not only for the women we train but for others as well,” said Ms. Thomas.

KITCO Limited has provided the training capsules for the women and an NGO, Jyothi Jeevika, from Kottayam will be training women in masonry at Manjummel in five days a week. They will get a stipend of Rs.350 a day.

After the training programme, the all-women team will be engaged in small construction projects for a year.

Minister for Panchayats and Social Welfare M. K. Muneer will inaugurate the programme at the Thrikkakara Community Hall on Monday.

View the original article at http://www.thehindu.com.

Repost: Women, minorities to play key role in Vikings stadium construction

“It’s not really just about this project. It’s about creating a pipeline of workers of the future that are going to make up the men and women of the Minnesota construction industry to come.” John Wood, Senior VP, Mortenson Construction

Repost: It’s been a good week for women seeking non-traditional jobs

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it settled a case with a federal contractor, L&M Construction, involving allegations of a hostile work environment including sexual harassment and retaliation against the workers who reported the hostile behavior. This case was filed after the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) of the Department of Labor (USDOL) received complaints of sexual harassment from workers at L&M construction in Arlington, Virginia, including inappropriate touching, sexual gestures, comments and propositions experienced by a female employee in 2012. OFCCP conducted an investigation and discovered that the company fired nine employees for complaining about the hostile work environment created by the sexual harassment and fired five more workers to prevent them from being interviewed by OFCCP. All of the fired workers were Hispanic (7 men and 7 women). As a result of the settlement, L&M Construction will pay $112,573 in back wages to the terminated workers and will make job offers to them as positions become available. This settlement is not only critical in providing justice for the men and women who were victims of the hostile work environment, but also sends a message to federal contractors that sexual harassment and hostile work environments will not be permitted.

Today saw continued progress. With eighteen votes in favor and three opposed, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed S. 1356, legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), out of the Committee. The bill included specific language that funding authorized by the Act for employment and training activities shall be used to develop strategies to increase women’s participation in high-wages, high-demand occupations in which women are currently underrepresented.

These two seemingly unrelated events represent significant strides for women seeking employment in jobs that are considered non-traditional for women, such as construction. Research conducted by Wider Opportunities for Women has found that significant gender-based occupational segregation contributes to economic insecurity for women across the lifespan. In other words, the top fifty jobs occupied by women pay significantly less than the top fifty jobs occupied by men, resulting in a substantial gap in wages every hour, every month and every year, earned by men and women. To successfully increase women’s earnings and increase their economic security, more women must have access to job training and counseling about nontraditional jobs, such as construction, which pay higher wages.

The bill reauthorizing WIA that was passed by the Senate HELP committee today contains language that will increase access to counseling and skills training for women seeking non-traditional jobs, such as construction. Construction careers in particular are high-paying and women hold less than 2 percent of construction jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. However, orienting and recruiting women to these jobs is only part of the solution. Too often, once in those jobs, women experience barriers to successful careers, often in the form of several sexual harassment. Enforcement of our federal anti-discrimination laws by the USDOL, like the case that resulted in the settlement with L&M Construction on Monday, will protect women from illegal sexual harassment so that they are able to continue their careers free from hostile work environments. And, while there is still much work to be done, this is why this is s a good week for women seeking non-traditional jobs.

This entry was posted on July 31, 2013 by Robin Runge, Esq. Visit the WOW blog to view the original post.