Mainers Join 6,000 Tradeswoman at Annual Conference in Chicago

PHOTO: Alana Schaeffer (right) with union sisters at the Tradeswomen Build Nations in Chicago.

 This past weekend several union women from Maine joined the Tradeswomen Build Nations, the largest gathering of unionized tradeswomen in the world. More than 6,000 tradeswomen across specialties and unions joined together in Chicago for this year’s conference described as a “powerful celebration of sisterhood, solidarity, and opportunity in the unionized building trades.” The theme of this year’s conference was “She's not waiting. She's leading” to reflect that women are leading in the industry with their skills, vision and solidarity while strengthening unions and communities.

“I was so excited for the opportunity to learn from those who paved the way and to offer mentorship where I could..... But who I think I learned the most was from was these amazing ladies from Local 777 in Connecticut,” wrote Metal Trades Council President Alana Schaeffer (UA 788). “They've stepped up together to form a women's committee inside of their local union and the way that they accepted me into their sisterhood the last couple of days has been nothing shy of incredible and inspiring. They embody the meaning of solidarity and, as the conference theme states this year, "She's not waiting, she's leading".

IBEW 1253 member Kim Tobias was among four women from her local who attended the conference, which featured speeches by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and others. Tobias said she was particularly moved by a speech by North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey.

“Honestly, there was hardly a dry eye in the house,” said Tobias. “He gave a speech about how seeing women empowered made such a big difference and influenced the union to give more space for women. We often feel like we’re not in a space that belongs to us, but it's important to show women that all spaces belong to them and that it's okay for us to take up that space and be everywhere that men are.”

Seven members from IBEW Local 567 were also in attendance. Attendees took part in a range of workshops covering apprenticeship readiness programs, Mother Jones and the history of women in labor, understanding pensions, supporting LGBTQ union siblings, the power of education for women in trades, mental health and peer support and childcare and family solutions for tradeswomen.

“I really feel like Maine is ahead on [child care] issues just because of all of the things that, Troy Jackson and the AFL-CIO have worked on together to help out families" said Tobias.

IBEW 1253 and 567 members at Tradeswomen Build Nations in Chicago

Union tradeswomen at the conference also took part in a parade where they displayed banners from each of their locals. Parents with children and the local community came out to watch the parade and cheer them on. IBEW 567 member Beth Kleene said the tradeswoman wore themselves out chanting with all of the energy of being with 6,000 women.

“It's pretty empowering and inspiring just to be around that many other women,” said Kleene. “You can kind of forget living in Maine here with the small bubble that we have at our local, how many other women are out there.”

Kleene said she was impressed by the racial and ethnic diversity of her union sisters at the conference. Kleene noted that several women at the march wore green in solidarity with their sisters in the Carpenters’ Union, which chose not to send any female members to the conference. In May, United Brotherhood of Carpenters President Douglas McCarron announced that the union was eliminating its two-decade old Sisters in the Brotherhood committee and pulling its support for the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference to avoid legal action by the Trump administration over diversity equity and inclusion policies (DEI).

The President has canceled federal grants for organizations that help get women into the trades as part of the administration of its policy targeting DEI initiatives. The Chicago Women in the Trades have filed a lawsuit challenging the anti-DEI executive orders. Some female Carpenters members paid their own way to attend the event.

“There was a lot of talk amongst everyone we met about the Carpenters Union and how women had been kind of disenfranchised and how their local had backed out of supporting them to come to the conference because of the current administration’s anti-DEI stuff,” said Kleene.

Attendees said its important to have these kinds of conferences because women are still a small portion of the construction workforce and have unique issues to deal with like alienation and finding equipment like harnesses, boots and gloves that fit women on the worksite. Women make up only 4 percent of construction workers on job sites nationwide and about 15 percent in Maine, according to Census data.

Kleene called the conference a “morale booster” to be around so many like-minded tradeswomen, especially meeting other IBEW members from Maine and New Hampshire. IBEW 567 also sold $3,500 worth of shirts at the conference for a fundraiser. She noted while New York only sent one tradeswomen to the conference, Maine sent twelve workers.

“I just that I feel proud of our union for sending all the women that wanted to go to the conference,” she said.