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.

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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.