Inaugural New York City Tradeswomen Conference Brings Together Union Women to Discuss Challenges and Opportunities in Non-Traditional Work – Media Invited

Inaugural New York City Tradeswomen Conference

May 7, 2009 -

NEW YORK – Women carpenters, sheetmetal workers, electricians, mason tenders and other women working in construction will come together to build solidarity across fields at the first ever New York City Tradeswomen’s Conference on Saturday, May 9th. 

 

Speakers and participants are on the frontlines of carving out a place for women in trades that have been historically dominated by men.  Given that these skilled jobs offer decent wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement, construction and other trades represent a pathway to prosperity for working women.  Given that the number of women working in these fields is still extremely small and the construction culture is slow to change, tradeswomen are working to ensure that they have the same opportunities and conditions on the worksite as men.  This conference offers tradeswomen a unique opportunity to focus on professional development and working with their unions, and build strategies to confront the challenges they face as women in the field.

 

WHAT:             2009 New York City Tradeswomen’s Conference

WHEN:             Saturday, May 9th

                        8 AM  - 4 PM

 

WHERE:            New York City District Council of Carpenters

395 Hudson St., 10th Floor
New York, NY 10014

                       

Program:        

                        8 – 9 AM                   Breakfast and Networking

                        9 – 10:00 AM                      Opening Address and Introductions

                        10:00 – 11:30                Workshops

-          Getting Organized Within Your Union

-          Jobsite Professionalism and Career Advancement

-          Current Events in the Building Trades

-          Workplace Rights


11:30 – 1PM                        Lunch and Panel: Labor, Politics, and Advocacy

 

1 – 2:30PM                        Workshops

2:30 – 4PM                        Summary and Final Address

4 – 6PM                        Reception

 

Coverage:        Media are requested RSVP to esmith@legalmomentum.org or call 212.413.7516. The event is not open to the public.

                        For the best opportunities for interviews, photo-ops, and b-roll, media is encouraged to attend between 9AM and 3PM.

 

Speakers:         A number of tradeswomen will be available for media interviews, including veteran laborers and apprentices. For example:

 

Elly Spicer -- Spicer is a 23 year member of New York United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) Local 608 and an original founding member of the Women’s Committee. Through her work, the committee has tripled their representation at the National UBC Sisters in the Brotherhood Conference.  She continues to facilitate the growth of mentoring program, teaching apprentices about careers in the industry, and helping women rise to higher levels such as Shop Stewards. She is also the first woman UBC member elected as a national delegate.

 

                        Wendy Webb --  Webb boasts more than 13 years as a member Laborers International Union of North America. After gaining experience building roads and working as a Mason Tender, some of the hardest assignments in a laborers’ jurisdiction, Webb became shop steward, and soon advanced to become Local 79’s first woman Business Agent.  In 2002, she assumed responsibility for Local 79’s apprentice program, which expanded from 70 apprentices to 500 today, in addition to 300 successful graduates of the program.

 

Denise Doyle -- Doyle is a 10 year member of DC9-The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (Local 20). She is the Recording Secretary of Local 20 and the first and only woman delegate in DC9. She has been active in her Local since she was a second year apprentice, when her first position was a trustee to her Local. She is extremely active in Union activities and is also a member of DC9's Political Action Committee. She is now attending Empire State College to obtain a degree in Labor Studies. For the past 2 1/2 years she has been a recruiter and painting instructor at Nontraditional Employment for Women.

 

                       

Background:    Despite comprising nearly half of the workforce, women are still paid only 80 cents for every dollar a man is paid, and women hold the vast majority of minimum and below-minimum wage and part-time jobs. Compared to most service-sector jobs that are traditionally female dominated, traditionally male dominated jobs – in construction, building and other skilled trades, law enforcement, firefighting and information technologies – provide much higher salaries and much better benefits.  The top twenty women-dominated fields for women’s employment pay 20-30% less than non-traditional jobs. 

On April 28th, the Institute for Women's Policy Research published an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data that shows that men out-earn women in nearly every occupation for which data are available. Of the more than 500 occupational categories for which sufficient data was available, construction is one of the only five occupations where women earn the same or more than men.

Organizations like Legal Momentum and Nontraditional Employment for Women seek to support and increase the number of women working in non-traditional jobs as a critical step towards building economic security working women and families. 

 

Sponsors:         Legal Momentum, the nation’s oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls

                       

                        Mason Tenders District Council

 

New York City District Council of Carpenter’s Women’s Committee

 

Nontraditional Employment for Women, a nonprofit organization that trains women for skilled jobs in construction and other blue-collar industries

 

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