Repost: Construction-Training Grads Are All Women

The Construction Workforce Initiative 2 Program in New Haven, CT, recently presented 37 women with certificates of completion. This graduation ceremony marked the matriculation of their first women-only class in the construction training program. (Markeshia, 23 Oct. 2014).

Visit http://www.newhavenindependent.org to read the full article.

Girls at Work, Inc. MusicFest 2014: 2-for-1 Tickets on Sale Today!

Girls at Work, Inc. is a non-profit in southern New Hampshire that has worked for 13 years to empower young girls by giving them power tools. Check out their upcoming evening of live music, good food, raffles, and more to support this great organization.

Repost: Francoise Jacobsohn Joins ERA with Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues

Equal Rights Advocates recently announced that Françoise Jacobsohn, who serves as a co-chair of the National Task Force on Tradeswomen's Issues and a Fellow at the Cornell ILR Labor and Employment Law Program (LEL), recently joined their organization to restart their Tradeswomen’s Advocacy Project (ERA Staff, 21 Oct. 2014). Along with co-chair Wider Opportunities for Women, the National Task Force will aim "to improve and enforce the law on equal opportunity for tradeswomen through education and legislative and policy advocacy" (ERA Staff, 21 Oct. 2014).

Visit http://www.equalrights.org/ to read the full article.

Repost: Coalition calls for wage guarantees for construction on Roxbury projects

At a recent meeting of the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee, which monitors construction projects that are part of the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan, the Boston Jobs Coalition and other community activists called for developers to adopt prevailing wages for both union and non-union workers as well as higher goals for contractors to hire residents, women, and people of color. This recommendation comes not long after community members picketed the Tropical Foods store site, where "some workers...were being paid only $11 per hour" (Larson, 22 Oct. 2014). The coalition's efforts have received support from City Councilor Tito Jackson and State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, among others.

Visit http://baystatebanner.com/ to read the full article.

Event Recap: "Paving the Way for Women in Construction" Webinar

"Paving the Way for Women in Construction: Creating Systems and Supports that Work," an October 1, 2014 webinar hosted by the United States Department of Labor Women's Bureau, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the National Women's Law Center, Wider Opportunities for Women, and Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. "explored ways to increase women's participation, retention, and success in the construction industry." The webinar included a discussion of two new reports, the Institute for Women's Policy Research's results from a survey of tradeswomen and the National Women's Law Center's report on challenges and pathways for women to access higher-paying jobs, as well as best practices in recruitment, training, retention, and technical assistance regarding increasing women's representation in the construction workforce.

For more information about this recent webinar, visit www.dol.gov/wb/.

Repost: Where Are All the Blue-Collar Women?

HuffPost Live's Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani recently interviewed Lorien Barlow (@hardhattedwoman), the director of Hard Hatted Woman, a feature-length documentary film that will explore the experiences of American women working in the construction industry.
Ambra Melendez, a journey ironworker; Francoise Jacobsohn (@fjacobsohn), a project manager at Equal Rights Advocates; and Rudy Mulligan, a second-year carpenter apprentice, also contribute their thoughts on the stereotypes tradeswomen confront in a "hyper-masculine arena."

Visit The Huffington Post online to watch the interview.

Visit www.hardhattedwoman.com to learn more about the documentary.

News Release: Fort Myer Construction will pay $900K to settle discrimination and harassment case involving 371 women and minorities

OFCCP News Release: [09/17/2014]
Contact Name: Laura McGinnis or Michael Trupo
Phone Number: (202) 693-4653 or x6588
Email: McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov or Trupo.Michael@dol.gov
Release Number: 14-1513-PHI

Fort Myer Construction will pay $900K to settle discrimination and harassment case involving 371 women and minorities

WASHINGTON — Fort Myer Construction Corp. has agreed to settle charges that it violated Executive Order 11246 by failing to provide equal employment opportunities to employees and job applicants at 413 construction sites in the D.C. metropolitan area.

An agreement reached by the federal contractor and the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs resolves allegations that between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2010, the company discriminated against 27 qualified women and 136 qualified African Americans who applied for jobs as laborers, and unfairly terminated eight African American skilled laborers. It also resolves pay discrimination charges stemming from Fort Myer Construction's practice of assigning equally qualified workers performing the same jobs to projects paying different hourly rates, some with fewer work hours. This resulted in lower wages for 44 African American and 156 Hispanic laborers.

"Strong enforcement and vigilance are critical to opening doors of opportunity for more women and minorities in the construction industry, ensuring that all workers get an equal shot at getting to work on the highest-paying projects," said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu.

OFCCP's investigation of Fort Myer Construction began in January 2011 during the agency's review of companies involved in constructing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's consolidated headquarters in southeastern D.C. Because that project is valued above $25 million and will last more than a year, this undertaking has been designated by the Labor Department as a Mega Construction Project, which is a priority area for OFCCP. More than 300 workers were interviewed over the course of the compliance evaluation, which focused on Fort Meyer Construction's employment practices in 2010.

"Getting those workers in the door and keeping them is going to take more than improved applicant tracking and better pay policies," said OFCCP Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Michele Hodge. "It's going to take a concerted effort by Fort Myer Construction's leadership to change a culture that devalues too many workers."

During their investigation, OFCCP compliance officers received more than 30 phone calls alerting them to charges of harassment, intimidation, threats and coercion at work. The agency discovered that supervisors at Fort Myer Construction used hostile and derogatory language toward African American and Hispanic employees, as well as a disabled veteran. The supervisors sexually harassed and tried to date female subordinates. African American women were locked out of restroom facilities and had feces left in their work trucks. A company vice president tried to interfere in OFCCP's investigation by discouraging Hispanic employees from talking to agency inspectors conducting an onsite review. Even a female investigator from OFCCP was subjected to inappropriate sexual jokes by a superintendent while at a Fort Myer Construction work site.

Under the terms of the settlement, Fort Myer Construction will pay $900,000 in back wages and interest to 371 class members and make job offers to seven women and 30 African Americans from that class as laborer positions become available. The company has also agreed to undertake extensive training and monitoring measures to ensure that all its employment practices – including hiring, termination and compensation – fully comply with the laws enforced by OFCCP.

D.C.-based Fort Myer Construction builds, repairs and maintains streets, roads, bridges and underground utilities. In 2010, the company received more than $400 million in federal funds for work on 155 construction projects in the D.C. area. Some of its largest contracts that year were with the U.S. Department of Transportation, General Services Administration, Navy Department, National Park Service and Smithsonian Institution.

In addition to Executive Order 11246, OFCCP enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. These three laws require that those who do business with the federal government, both contractors and subcontractors, follow the fair and reasonable standard that they not discriminate in employment on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. For more information, visit http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/.

Read this news release en Español.

Repost: Iron fist in a velvet glove, Chinese women on construction site

© 2009 - 2012 ChinaHush

ChinaHush recently published striking photos of women working in construction in China, where "woman construction workers have taken up 10.18% of the total construction site workforce" (Lee, 24 Sept. 2014). Many of these women work side-by-side with their husbands, earning wages to support their families. While these jobs often provide better wages and greater freedom than factory jobs, women workers typically make less money than their male counterparts--in the case of 32-year-old Yang Amei, 120 yuan instead of the 160 yuan per day that her husband earns (Lee, 24 Sept. 2014). In recent years, women have taken on roles that require "heavy lifting" on the construction sites--work that was previous reserved for men.

To read the full article and view the photos, visit http://www.chinahush.com/.

Upcoming Event: WOW Book Talk Series with Dr. Mary Gatta - 10/9/14, 1-3pm

As part of their 50th Anniversary Book Talk Series, Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) will host an event featuring new CEO Amanda Andere and Dr. Mary Gatta, who will discuss her new book, All I Want Is a Job! Unemployed Women Navigating the Public Workforce System.

Thursday, October 9th, 1-3pm

Jobs for the Future
88 Broad St, 8th Floor Conference Room

Boston, MA 02110 

For more information, check out the event flyer. To RSVP, visit WOW online.