Repost: What’s Next for Women in the Trades?

Great article written by Michael Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council, about the need to recruit and support more women in the building trades:

"While the old Building Trades pattern of white male exclusion of minorities, then, has been largely – even if not absolutely – superseded by a new, more complex reality, we still appear to exclude women.

We and the City can take many practical steps yet toward enrolling and supporting women in the Trades. We can target pre-apprenticeship programs primarily at women, as does a recent Iron Workers multi-trades welding program. We can insist that existing pre-apprenticeship programs target specific numbers of female apprenticeship candidates, as the Carpenters have done at John O’Connell High School. I have advocated for years for childcare programs with construction hours, which would benefit many men as well. We can ask successful Tradeswomen to serve as recruiters and mentors" (Theriault, 30 May 2014).

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

Repost: Local hiring success continues under landmark SF jobs ordinance

Great article on the success of San Francisco's local hire ordinance!

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With nearly 1 million hours under its belt, city’s local hiring law continues to promote powerful community-labor partnership

Under a failed “good faith efforts” approach to connecting San Francisco residents with good-paying construction jobs, local workers made up an average of only 20 percent of hours on city-funded public works projects.

In the two years since the landmark mandatory local hiring law adopted by policy makers in December 2010 has been in effect, however, participation by San Francisco’s community workforce has jumped to just over 33 percent of job hours on covered projects, providing a much-needed boost for local workers as construction employment continues to recover from a record low. Increased local hiring meant an additional $5-$10 million in the hands of San Francisco’s working families that in turn support local businesses and strengthen the local economy.

According to a report issued by the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the San Francisco Local Hiring Policy for Construction covered 945,668 hours of public works construction, with 316,628 hours performed by San Francisco residents, for an average of 33.4 percent local hiring. Community apprentices performed 60 percent of total apprentice hours, signifying joint efforts between union apprenticeship programs, San Francisco’s CityBuild Academy, community-based organizations and contractors to build a strong local pipeline of skilled workers ready to embark on a career in construction.

These numbers far exceed the policy’s requirement that at least 20 percent of job hours within each trade on projects awarded in 2011, and 25 percent of job hours on projects awarded in 2012, must be performed by San Francisco residents, particularly workers in economically disadvantaged communities. At least 50 percent of apprentice hours within each craft must be local.

The local hiring ordinance also resulted in increased race and gender diversity on covered projects, as the report demonstrates that African American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and female workers are virtually absent among the non-local workforce on covered projects over the past two years.

Read the full article at http://sfbayview.com.

Read the jobs ordinance at http://blogs.law.stanford.edu.

Learn more about San Francisco's workforce development plan at http://www.workforcedevelopmentsf.org/.

Learn about CityBuild Academy, which runs to training programs to prepare San Francisco residents for career opportunities in the construction industry, at http://www.workforcedevelopmentsf.org/trainingprograms.

Repost: PG&E sets up utility career training program for women

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants more women to choose careers in the energy and utility business, and it is preparing to train them to do so.

The San Francisco utility (NYSE: PCG) worked with Tradeswomen Inc. to set up a 10-week course to prepare women to apply for entry level jobs in the industry.

Women taking the class will prepare for exams, get an overview of careers in the utility business, and will also get help applying for work at PG&E.

The classes will be held twice a week from Feb. 25 through May 1 in Oakland at the Tradeswomen office on Webster Street downtown.

Content by Steven E.F. Brown, web editor at the San Francisco Business Times.