Repost: Women in Trades training a success, Liberals say

Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 5:54 PM
By Jonathon Brown
Prince George, B.C.

The Women in Trades Training Program is growing the number of women turning to that part of the workforce in B-C.

Shirley Bond, Jobs Minister and MLA for Prince George - Valemount says the program is important tool of encouraging women to consider a career in trades, which she says can often be a difficult choice.

"Since 2008 / 2009 when the current labour market agreement was signed, and the end of this fiscal year, we've seen about 2,500 women who have been served by the women in Trades Training Program," Bond says.

Bond calls those numbers a success, and critical for discussions with the federal government when it comes to funding.

She says a $4 million dollar injection into the Canada - BC labour market agreement has led to an increase in women registered as apprentices."About 10.5% of all registered apprentices are now women, and that's from 8.5% in 2009."

With the labour market agreement up for renewal, Bond says the Women in Trades Program is exactly the kind of program she wants to see protected.

Visit http://hqprincegeorge.com to view the original article.

Repost: Apprenticeships lead to higher pay, but only for men

Young Canadian women who apprenticed had lower incomes than high school and college grads

Canadian men who complete an apprenticeship can expect to earn more than men who have only a high school education, more than men with trade qualifications and even more than many college graduates, according to a working paper on apprenticeships based on the 2006 census.

But the story is much different for women, with females who complete apprenticeships earning less than women with high school or college degrees or women in trades, according to the report Returns to Apprenticeship.

The study by University of Toronto researchers Morley Gunderson and Harry Krashinsky found male apprentices, who tend to be in the construction and mechanical trades, earned 24 per cent more than men who had a high school degree.

They brought home 15 per cent more money than those in the trades who were not apprenticed and two per cent more than college graduates. University graduates continued to outstrip those with apprenticeships, with incomes 40 per cent higher than high school graduates, though that number may be changing as the opportunities for university graduates diminish.

The results emphasize the value of apprenticeships, which many provinces are promoting as an alternative to college or university. With construction booming, businesses are reporting skilled trades shortages.

Unemployment among young people in Canada is now above 14 per cent.

Still, only a small percentage of the Canadian workforce has completed an apprenticeship — about 7.7 per cent of men and 1.6 per cent of women. The system of fostering apprentices is more common in Europe, but the study questioned why so few young men take on apprenticeships when the benefit appears to be so clear.

Canadian women were better off just completing high school, the study found. For women taking "an apprenticeship yields lower returns than simply completing high school and substantially lower returns than completing community college, likely reflecting the fact that female apprenticeships tend to be in low-wage jobs in industries like food and service," the study found.

The areas where women apprenticed were professions such as hairdressing and chef’s assistant. Those who completed apprenticeships earned 25 per cent less than women who completed college and 6.6 per cent less than high school graduates, the study found.

To read the full article, visit http://www.cbc.ca.

Repost: Why the Person Building Your Next House Might Just Be a Woman

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Despite harassment and bias, women are fighting for jobs in skilled trade.

The world of work for women is changing. A popular new Barbie construction set -- yes, building pink mansions! -- may help girls expand their view of what occupations are open to them, and that's welcome. But tradeswomen are taking action today: President Obama will soon be hearing from women electricians, plumbers, ironworkers, and carpenters about what it takes to succeed in the world of skilled trades work.

In April over 650 tradeswomen gathered in Sacramento, California, for the “Annual Women Build California and the Nation Conference.” Iron workers and plumbers met with carpenters, electricians, and laborers. They cheered women leaders like Liz Shuler, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO; the first woman and the youngest person ever elected to that position. The women listened to Ed Hill, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who called for equal treatment on the job site and in the union hall. Cement mason Alise Martiny, business manager of the Greater Kansas City Building Trades Council, offered her story of women’s leadership. These women are “leaning in" in ways Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg might not imagine. For one weekend tradeswomen from all over the country shared their stories and learned from each other. Most return to worksites where they are the only woman. The isolation of their day-to-day work lives is in stark contrast to the gathering.

Some of these women are brand new apprentices, others are seasoned journey-level workers, the most skilled in their trade. Some have become apprenticeship directors and union officers. These are women who work alongside men to build our houses and hospitals, our bridges and roads, to connect our power lines and solar panels. They work with their hands and their heads. The jobs are demanding, rewarding, and often dangerous.

But why are there still so few tradeswomen? What can be done to make these highly skilled, good paying jobs available to more women?

Thirty-five years ago, President Jimmy Carter expanded Executive Order 11246 to prohibit sex discrimination in employment by government contractors. He established goals and timetables and outlined ways to reach out to recruit and train women for all jobs. An early goal was for women to be 6.9 percent of the workforce on federally funded construction projects.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs was established to oversee the enforcement process within the Department of Labor. There was active outreach, training, and oversight. Women began to enter apprenticeship programs. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980 the enforcement effort slowed to a crawl from which it has never recovered. The OFCCP has half the staff today that it had in 1978.

Women have shown that they are interested in this work and fully capable of performing the most difficult and dangerous tasks. Many have overcome hostile supervisors and co-workers, sexual harassment, and isolation. There have been grievances, complaints, law suits, and consent decrees. Many have also found male mentors, good job training programs, and support. Their stories have been documented most recently in books like Jane LaTour’s Sisters in the Brotherhoods.

According to author and tradeswoman Susan Eisenberg, however, for the few women who get into the trades it is still not uncommon to hear stories of inadequate training, biased evaluations, unsafe assignments, and sexual assaults. Thirty-five years after the Executive Order demanded affirmative action and almost 50 years after Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in employment based on sex, women remain pioneers on construction sites.

Today only 2.5 percent of trades jobs are held by women. According to thelatest reports of the U.S. Department of Labor, while women are almost one-third of doctors and lawyers and over 14 percent of our armed forces, they remain barely 1.6 percent of carpenters, 1.8 percent of electricians, and 1.3 percent of operating engineers. The numbers are worse for women of color.

Read the remainder of this article at alternet.org.

Repost: Order to give boost to minorities, women in construction

Mayor Francis Slay signs Executive Order #46
(Photo from the City of St. Louis)

10:04 AM, Dec 12, 2012

Written by Kristen Gosling

St. Louis (KSDK) -  St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay issued an executive order effective immediately to try and increase the number of women and minorities involved in construction jobs.

Executive Order #46 extends the existing workforce goals on city public works projects, commonly known as Board Bill 75, to all TIF projects that are $1-million or larger. The first such project will be the CORTEX project in the Central West End. CORTEX is embarking on a $186 million development that will bring 1,400 new jobs and 384,000 square feet of additional lab and office space to the district.

The workforce goals are as follows:

• Twenty five percent of labor hours are to be performed by minorities. 
• Five percent of labor hours are to be performed by women. 
• 20% of labor hours are to be performed by City residents, although those hours can also be counted towards the first two goals. 
• Fifteen percent of all hours are to be performed by apprentices enrolled in an approved training program, although those hours can be counted towards the first two goals.

The St. Louis Development Corporation and the St. Louis Area Agency on Training will implement the order.

The goals will be in effect until the city completes a disparity study next summer, whic would measure existing workforce capacity adn utilization. The disparity study will set new goals.

Read the original article at www.ksdk.com or watch video coverage of the story at www.fox2now.com.

Sources: KSDK and FOX2Now