Organized Labor

by Roy San Filippo
Staff Writer

It’s a Man’s World” was once a phrase that described the building and construction industry. However, a booming construction industry and over three decades of trailblazing by our sisters in the trades has made that notion an anachronism.

Women are becoming more commonplace on the jobsite and have more than proven that they are capable of doing the hard work that is asked of every construction worker, everyday, on jobsites throughout the country.

In May, over 400 women gathered in Southern California for the 6th Annual Women Building California Conference to address the issues of recruitment and retention and to promote leadership of women on the jobsite and in their unions. The conference was attended by women already in the construction trades as well as over 40 women students who are interested in a career in the construction field.

Workshops were held on variety of topics including “Surviving and Thriving in Apprenticeship,” “Mentoring Programs for Your Union and Union Sisters,” “Leadership Skills on the Job and in Your Union,” and “How to Become a Union Contractor.” In addition, the conference enabled women in the trades to network and meet with tradeswomen from across the state and country who face similar challenges and share a common goal of having a successful and rewarding career in the construction trades.

This year’s conference built on the momentum of previous conferences. “Local Unions have been very supportive of the conference,” said Debra Chaplan, Director of Special Programs for the State Building and Construction Trades Council. “We’ve had more local unions paying for women to attend this conference than ever before.”

One of those women was Lucille Palmer-Byrd, Business Representative with Cement Masons Local 300 in Northern California. In her 22 years in the construction industry, she has seen a lot of progress, but acknowledges there is still work to be done. Women in construction face obstacles in the jobsite around issues that men often take for granted, like access to bathroom facilities and access to safety harness that are designed to fit women’s bodies, she said. But with the number of women in the industry growing and as women become leaders in the industry, things have begun to change.

“Women on the jobsite are becoming much more common then they were back in the day and the jobsites now have to accommodate them,” said Palmer-Byrd who recalls a time when harassment on the construction was a common occurrence. “Today we have women in leadership positions in construction, working as foremen, shop stewards, and business agents. Now we have women who are contractors.”

In recent years the number of women in the industry has grown, driven in part by the tremendous construction boom in California, and helped by the path paved by the many women who entered the trades in the 1970s. Growth in the construction industry is expected to provide continued opportunity for women according to Bob Balgenorth, President of the State Building and Construction Trades Council.

“With the $37 billion in infrastructure bonds passed last year to build roads, bridges, levies and schools, there will be tremendous opportunities in the next 10 years for women in construction,” he said.

The women at the conference said they are determined to keep those women in the trades once they enter. While there is no indication that there is a greater percentage of women than men who drop out of apprenticeship programs before reaching journeylevel, the fact that there are so few women who enter the programs to begin with, means any women who drop are more noticeable, said Debra Chaplan. One solution is to encourage the development of mutual aid and support amongst women in the trades. As a result the conference placed a priority on developing the mentoring skills of tradeswomen, “so that every woman could become both a mentor and a mentee,” she said.

This camaraderie provides emotional support that not only helps them to better deal with the particular obstacles they face as women in the trades; it is also an important step in removing those obstacles through collective action.

“The conference has caused women in the trades to realize that there are a lot of other women that share their issues and enables them to collectively develop solutions to the problems that they face,” said Balgenorth.

As women continue to make further in-roads in the construction industry, Jane Templin, Outreach Director for IBEW Local 11’s Electrical Training Institute says that women have always been builders.

“Women have always built the nest and to do it on a grand scale is fabulous. This is a great career for women.” As a 31-year veteran of the construction industry, Templin has had the opportunity to a lot of building. “When I drive by buildings in Los Angeles my grandkids point to the ones I worked on and say ‘Grandma built that!’ We get to help build a better community,” she added.