Sisters In The Brotherhood

Urban Decay: The story of the building through the eyes of a photographer

2010-12-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

Thu Dec 9, 11:20 pm ET

Lost treasures of the city

I tracked down the photographer who made the image. Eric Holubow describes himself as an urban-exploration photographer. He told me that if you listen closely to a building you can hear its voice; when he's taking photographs he's always listening for the story of the building and what it has to say. So one rainy weekend, he took me to Gary, Indiana, so I could listen too.

The city of Gary was founded in 1906 by the U.S. Steel Corporation (and was thus named after the company's founding chairman -- Elbert H. Gary). The company built its new steel-production plant there. Other businesses followed: The Gary Screw and Bolt Company was founded in 1911; an ornate movie palace was completed in 1924; and in 1925 a local pastor laid the cornerstone for City Methodist Church.

The city thrived for decades, but in the 1960s, as competition for steel increased overseas, jobs disappeared and the city declined. The movie theater closed in 1972, the church closed in '75 and the factory in '86. There are many other buildings with similar stories in Gary. Photographer David Tribby published a book about Gary's forgotten buildings; you can also search Flickr for "urban decay" or "urban exploration."

And then there's the story of Richard Nickel. As a college student in Chicago during the 1950s, Nickel photographed famous Chicago buildings designed by the architecture firm of Adler & Sullivan, including some of the city's first skyscrapers. He continued this work through the 1960s, often risking his safety to take pictures inside buildings slated for demolition. In 1972, Nickel was killed while photographing the old Chicago Stock Exchange, but his passion for Chicago's architecture inspired the city's modern preservation movement.

For our story, I interviewed Ward Miller, director of the Richard Nickel Committee. He's one of four co-authors of "The Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan," a book that took more than 50 years to complete. It features many of Richard Nickel's iconic images and is the definitive source of information about a famous chapter in Chicago's architectural history. The Art Institute of Chicago also has an exhibit about Richard Nickel and Louis Sullivan that runs through this weekend (Dec. 12).

There are so many stories behind the buildings featured in our piece that I wish I could share them all. But I'll leave you with a final thought about Gary, Indiana. As grim as some of the buildings in this city appear, I want you to know that right across the street from the abandoned church there's a community center. On the weekend I visited Gary, it was filled with laughter and life. On the other side of the church there's a whole block full of brand-new homes. Each of these buildings has its own story, and those stories could lead Gary to a new chapter in its long history.

**Click here to view the Urban Decay Flickr Gallery featuring 12 international and U.S. photographers.

**Want to know more about the images in this piece? Click here.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_weekend/20101210/ts_yblog_weekend/lost-treasures-of-the-city

More on Urban Decay:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/decay/

How the GOP Blew it on the Paycheck Fairness Act -- and Who the Biggest Cowards Were

2010-11-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

Amy Siskind

President and Co-Founder of The New Agenda

Posted: November 17, 2010 09:17 PM

Well, it didn't take long. The Republican Party was handed a historic opportunity with women. For the first time since the advent of exit polling data in 1982, women voters favored the GOP in the 2010 election. A rather shocking occurrence given that just two short years ago, President Obama had a 14 point advantage with women. What does the GOP do with this historic opportunity? Blow it!

Wednesday, The Senate voted 58-41 against allowing debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act. Not a single Republican voted "yea." Wise up there GOP -- if you have any hopes of taking the White House in 2012, you'll need women voters. But after shooting down the Paycheck Fairness Act Wednesday and perpetuating a boys' club in Congress, you ain't showing us much.

Here's what we know from the 2010 election: issue #1 for women is economic security. That's why women gave the GOP a once in a generation opportunity to win us over. Absurdly, the Republican Party then turns around and pushes women away by thwarting our financial security. Ya know, us 'wimminz' -- the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families.

Is the Paycheck Fairness Act perfect? No. Does it solve the disparity of pay that women face? Not totally. But it is a huge step towards women's financial security. Sadly, here's what the GOP said to women Wednesday: "we don't believe women deserve to make the same wage as men for doing the same job." It's not much more complicated than that. Even if the bill in it's current form (which likely no Republican Senator actually read) wasn't nirvana, then bring it to the floor and hash it out.

There's plenty of blame to go around. And, it's time for some accountability! Here are the recipients of the Paycheck Fairness Act Coward Awards.

1. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) -- after courageously going against their party to vote with the Democrats in February 2009 for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Wednesday Senators Snowe and Collins showed that they care more about their 2012 re-elections than women. Cowards!

2. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) -- after much ballyhoo as a bipartisan leader for women, including voting for the Fair Pay Act and a joint appearance with Secretary Clinton at the Women's History Museum, Senator Hutchinson let us down. Coward!

3. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) -- who also voted for the Fair Pay Act, recently boasted that she will not be beholden to the GOP. She will, however, sell-out women. Standing ovation on the Senate Floor Tuesday - jet set out of town before the vote Wednesday. Coward!

4. Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett (D) (Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls) -- progressive blogger Joanne Bamberger said it best on Facebook: President Obama and his advisor Valerie Jarrett have said time and again they are committed to passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act and it was a priority to them. Wednesday, fair pay failed by 2 votes. They couldn't use their "commitment" to women to get us 2 votes?

It's unclear which offense is worse: not fighting for women or being completely ineffectual as Chair of the White House Council. What is clear: Coward!

5. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) -- who has buried the Paycheck Fairness Act since its passage in the House in January 2009. Senator Reid failed to use the momentum of the passage of the Fair Pay Act. Fighter for women? You kidding? Coward!

The only ray of light for women in this fiasco is the continued ascension of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, an unabashed and unapologetic advocate for women. After being written off as an 'easy target' in 2010, Senator Gillibrand went on to slay over 30 would-be challengers, and then romp her opponent Joseph DioGuardi 62-36. Senator Gillibrand took the airwaves slamming the Republicans and clearly explaining how their actions Wednesday hurt both women and children:

Can you say: Gillibrand 2016!

As for the cowards, we need to hold them accountable. Even though it was the GOP that blew it this week, there's plenty of blame to go around.

What we do know from the 2010 election is that women's votes are in play. Time will tell which party will seize the opportunity!

Follow Amy Siskind on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmyTheNewAgenda

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-siskind/how-the-gop-blew-it-on-th_b_785194.html?ref=tw

North Chicago residents call for minority participation on the new Cultural Center

2010-11-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

News-Sun Staff Report Nov 8, 2010 4:02PM

Some residents are calling for more minority and female participation in the expansion project at the Greenbelt Cultural Center in North Chicago.

The $5.6 million project includes the construction of a new 18,500-square-foot building adjacent to the existing facility, which is owned and operated by the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

Waukegan resident Chris Blanks, local president of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, said Thursday that no black or female laborers are working on the project.

“It’s an embarrassment,” Blanks said. “This is a Lake County cultural center erected and established in the name of cultural expression and diversity, but we don’t see this as far as where our tax dollars go in. This is $5 million building.”

Blanks said Thursday morning that members of his group would protest at the center Thursday afternoon.

Lake County Forest Preserve Board member Angelo Kyle of Waukegan said he was aware of Blanks’ complaints. Kyle said that he had spoken with the general contractor of the project, who said they use the workers sent to the project by the unions.

Kyle said he believes contractors could exert authority to request minority and female participation. He said he was unsure if the forest preserve district would address the matter, but added that he feels minorities need to be involved “with the influx of construction in the county” resulting from federal stimulus programs.

District Executive Director Tom Hahn said Thursday that the district has a purchasing policy that includes open bidding and the selection of the lowest responsible bidder. The district does not have a minority hiring policy included in its contract awards, he said.

http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/2241764-418/project-minority-district-participation-blanks.html

Foresters ask contractors to hire more minorities

By Jim Newton jnewton@stmedianetwork.com Nov 11, 2010 08:50PM

Following a protest last week at which pickets pointed out the lack of diversity among construction workers at the Greenbelt Cultural Center expansion project in North Chicago, Lake County Forest Preserve District officials have asked the project’s contractors to increase minority participation.

District Executive Director Tom Hahn told the Forest Board’s Finance Committee Thursday that following the protest, he consulted with district legal counsel and was told that under state law, the district cannot force contractors to hire women and minorities, but it can request that they do so.

District officials then made that request to the $5.6 million expansion project’s construction manager and 20 contractors.

“I think we are doing all we can within the policy and laws we are covered by,” Hahn said, noting that the district already had been encouraging minority contractors to produce bids in through the Forest Preserve District’s open bidding process.

The board’s three black members, Angelo Kyle and Mary Ross Cunningham of Waukegan and Audrey Nixon of North Chicago, all said the lack of black workers at a project in the heart of a minority community was especially upsetting to residents.

“It’s in a community that’s mostly African-American,” Nixon said at Thursday’s meeting.

The committee agreed that minority and female representation should be increased in forest preserve projects in all communities, and agreed to consider looking at the qualification requirements for contractors to see if the “benchmarks” with regard to issues such as years of experience and the number of past projects are too high, a suggestion made by committee member David Stolman of Buffalo Grove.

Although construction projects are down because of the economy, Forest Board President Bonnie Thomson Carter of Ingleside said the district should continue to address the issue each year and consider legislative proposals that could give the district more leverage in boosting minority hiring.

http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/2340061-418/district-contractors-forest-minority-preserve.html

Portrait of a San Francisco construction worker: Not Black, Not a Woman, Not a City Resident

2010-11-27T19:20:00.002-08:00

Portrait of a San Francisco construction worker

11.11.10 - 2:22 pm | Sarah Phelan

Protesting unemployment

Sarah Phelan

The nation has a black president and a female Secretary of State. But only three percent of San Francisco's construction workforce are black or female.

One of the many fascinating pieces of data to emerge in the discussion about Sup. John Avalos’ proposal to mandate local hiring is a recently published analysis of the characteristics of construction workers whose primary workplace is San Francisco.

In October, L. Luster & Associates published a labor market analysis, using data from EDD payrolls and the U.S. Census American Community Survey, that shows there were 14,629 construction workers employed in San Francisco in June 2010. And that five trades currently dominate this workforce and constitute more than 75 percent of the total numbers of construction workers employed in the city.

Carpenters are the biggest group (4,623 workers) followed by construction laborers (2,796 workers) painters (1,459 workers), electricians (1,119 workers) and plumbers, pipe fitters and steamfitters (1,023 workers).

But while this population shows racial diversity (whites and Latinos each make up about 40 percent of the workforce, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders at 17 percent) African Americans and women each account for only 3 percent of this market. In other words, only 440 African Americans and 405 women were construction workers in June 2010, compared to 5,830 Latinos, 5673 whites, 2,528 Asians and Pacific Islanders.

So, how do these ethnic percentages compare with San Francisco’s overall distribution?
“Latinos make up a considerably larger portion of workforce than they do the overall population (40 percent of construction workforce v. 13 percent of city’s population),” the Luster report states. “ All other major racial categories constitute a smaller portion of the construction workforce than they do of the total population: Whites (39 percent of construction workforce compared to 49 percent of city population overall) followed by Asian and Pacific Islanders (17 percent compared to 28 percent overall) and African Americans (3 percent compared to 6 percent overall.)

(That last statistic should be a shocker: What?! Only six percent of San Francisco's current residents are African American?! But the city produced a report two years that detailed the "black out migration” –but provided little money or authority to help follow through on the report’s various recommendations).

Meanwhile, Luster’s report concludes that, “the main imbalance between the employed construction workforce and the San Francisco population lies with the gender distribution. Women comprise only 3 percent of the 14,629 construction workers in San Francisco, whereas they account for nearly half of the overall population.”

Next up in the Luster report was the question of residency. And according to its findings, only 39 percent of workers employed in San Francisco’s construction industry call the city and county of San Francisco their home.

San Mateo County is home to 18 percent of this workforce, Alameda County accounts for another 17 percent, Contra Costa County is home to 13 percent, Sonoma and Marin each are home to 8 percent, and Napa and Solano County each account for a further 5 percent.

These numbers are significant in a number of ways. For instance, 2, 636 workers commute in from San Mateo, 2,418 from Alameda, 1,929 from Contra Costa, 1,197 from Sonoma and Marin, and 773 workers from Napa and Solano, all of which adds up to wear and tear on roads, impacts on air quality, and increased levels of greenhouse gas generation (depending on whether these workers take public transit, car pool or drive the freeways solo, of course).

It also means that when communities oppose aspects of a local construction project—be it a proposed bridge over Yosemite Slough, or a proposed mega-hospital on Cathedral Hill—they are likely to encounter opposition from a workforce that increasingly lives outside San Francisco, faces a 40 percent unemployment rate, and can be mobilized to show support for these projects, either through showing up physically at meetings or through union dues that can be used to wage political wars with far-reaching percussions for the ability of local residents to influence local land use and economic development decisions.

So, why do so many construction workers live outside San Francisco? The obvious reasons are their relatively low income levels and their related inability to afford housing in the city.

According to Luster’s report, “nearly 33 percent of these workers report earnings of less than $30,000 per year” (based on data that incorporates union and non-union workers, and part-time workers).

Another way of looking at this is to study Luster’s analysis of construction workers who currently live in San Francisco.

“From EDD payroll data and from historic employment relationships between San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties, we estimate there were 7,855 construction workers residing in San Francisco and who were employed as of June 2010—roughly 1 percent of total residents in the city,” Luster reports.

The Luster report also notes that the same five trades make up an even higher proportion of the resident employed construction workforce than they did the total employed construction workforce in the city (86 percent v 75 percent). But now the top two places are reversed: Construction Laborers is the largest trade with 2,442 workers, followed by Carpenters (1,914 workers), Painters (1,122 workers), Electricians (814 workers) and Plumbers (484 workers).

The ethnic distribution of these resident workers is also diverse. Whites (34 percent,) Latinos (31 percent), Asians and Pacific Islanders (30 percent, which is considerably higher than for the overall workforce employed in San Francisco) and African Americans (5 percent).

But women, once again, make up only 3 percent of residents in construction employment.

The Luster report takes the analysis one step further by looking at age distribution. This criterion reveals that the white resident construction workforce is aging, as is the Asian resident construction workforce, though to a lesser extent.

“By contract, the Latino workforce is concentrated among the younger age groups, particularly among the 25-34 age group,” Luster notes. “Of note, 47 percent of the resident San Francisco construction workforce is over the age of 45. Moreover, 23 percent is already 55 years and older. Currently, the number of workers aged 55-64 is 1,544 and declines to 264 for workers aged 65 and older, dropping from 20 percent of the workforce to 3 percent. If construction workers continue to leave the sector in the same proportions by the time they reach 64, a sizeable number of new openings will be created.”

The report, which goes into detailed breakdowns of apprentices (each of the four largest ethnic groups have almost equal shares, and women have 10 percent), the construction trades (which has a greater participation of white workers) and journey people, also gets into workforce projections (the bulk of the jobs generated by the city’s Capital Plan will be generated within the first five years) local hire programs and policy issues. As such, it’s a must-read for those following Avalos’ proposed local hire legislation, and you can view the full report by clicking here.

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/11/11/portrait-san-francisco-construction-worker

Feds investigate NY Public-Works Construction Hiring: Fraud, Exclusion, or Unrealistic DBE Requirements?

2010-11-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

Fraud Inquiries Focus on Public-Works Construction Hiring in New York
Public works projects in New York are among those under federal scrutiny, with contractors’ evasion of hiring requirements suspected.

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

Workers from Skanska USA Civil Northeast at the Fulton Street Transit Center in Lower Manhattan. The company is the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Published: November 23, 2010

Two of the nation’s major construction companies are under federal investigation, suspected of defrauding government programs on some of the biggest public-works projects in and around New York City, according to people briefed on the inquiries.

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The projects under scrutiny include the city’s $2.8 billion Croton Water Treatment Plant and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $1.4 billion Fulton Street Transit Center in Lower Manhattan, the people briefed on the investigations said.

The two inquiries focus on accusations that the contractors used what were essentially front companies to evade requirements that they hire a certain percentage of subcontractors owned by minorities or women, or businesses certified by government agencies as disadvantaged, the people said.

One of the investigations is expected to be resolved in the coming days with an agreement between one contractor under scrutiny, Schiavone Construction Company, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. The agreement will allow Schiavone, one of region’s biggest tunneling contractors, to avoid criminal charges but will require it to pay more than $20 million and maintain certain internal reforms it has put in place, the people said.

The second investigation focuses on Skanska USA Civil Northeast, a subsidiary of Skanska USA, which is ranked among the nation’s top 10 contractors in several categories, including transportation, general building revenue and new contracts, according to several of the people, who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the cases had not yet been made public.

While that inquiry, which is being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, is not as far along, people briefed on that case said it could lead to a similar — perhaps even larger — payment.

Neither company has been charged with a crime.

A lawyer for Skanska, Martin Flumenbaum, said Tuesday: “We understand that there is a broad inquiry relating to the use of minority business enterprises in public-works construction projects in the New York area. Skanska is cooperating fully in connection with that inquiry and is committed fully to complying with laws and regulations governing the use of minority business enterprises.”

Austin V. Campriello, who represents Schiavone, declined to comment. The company was bought in 2007 by Dragados Inversiones USA, part of a Spanish construction conglomerate, after the conduct at the center of the investigation was said to have occurred.

Taken together, the two cases underscore what some law enforcement officials and analysts say is the systemic abuse of similar city, state and federal programs put in place in an effort to level the playing field for companies owned by minorities and women and those certified as disadvantaged.

In New York State, billions of dollars have flowed through this patchwork of programs in recent years, although precise figures are hard to compile.

The projects under scrutiny in the two investigations, which prosecutors are conducting with the transportation authority’s inspector general, are not the only major undertakings by Schiavone and Skanska in the city. In joint ventures with a third company, they are also involved in some of the authority’s most ambitious efforts. They have a $1.14 billion contract to build the tunnels and station structures for the No. 7 subway line extension and a $337 million contract to build some of the tunnels for the Second Avenue subway, though no accusations of wrongdoing have been raised in connection with those projects.

The schemes at the center of the two investigations are simple: Rather than hire a minority- or women-owned subcontractor or a company the federal government has certified as a struggling business, the contractors ran the payroll for their own workers — or paid another subcontractor — through a minority company that served as a “pass through.”

In the case of Schiavone, based in Secaucus, N.J., part of the scheme centered on a company hired to haul away dirt excavated from the water-treatment plant project and work at the $530 million South Ferry subway station renovation and at the Times Square station. The company did a tiny part of the work, while most of it was performed by another company, a mob-connected trucking firm, the people briefed on the case said.

Skanska, those with knowledge of that case said, paid workers for dewatering and demolition at the Fulton Street Transit Center site through a company called Environmental Energy Associates in Ridgefield, N.J. That company, a certified disadvantaged business enterprise, or D.B.E., collected a fee for the service it provided, handling just the payroll, the people said.

Representatives of the offices of the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Loretta E. Lynch, and the Manhattan United States attorney, Preet Bharara, declined to comment on Tuesday.

Several law enforcement officials who investigate construction corruption acknowledged that the goals for the participation of minority- and women-owned contractors and disadvantaged businesses often did not accurately reflect the universe of qualified companies.

A longtime construction industry official who has worked with community groups in an effort to increase the level of participation by female and minority contractors said the often-limited options had made a range of sometimes illegal — at times blatant — solutions commonplace.

The complex set of requirements for certification as a disadvantaged contractor includes being a member of what the federal government characterizes as a “socially or economically disadvantaged” group — women, blacks, Native Americans, Asians and others — as well as a $750,000 limit on personal net worth, a maximum average gross receipts for the business over three years of roughly $22 million and a certain measure of independence from non-D.B.E. firms.

Prosecutors, investigators and industry observers said it was hard to measure the scope of this type of fraud, but most agreed it was widespread. And while such crimes do not result in the theft of government funds — the money is paid and the work is done — they undermine the intent of the federal, state and local laws, which were written to create opportunities for struggling and minority- and women-owned companies. Also, in the view of some, they contribute to a culture of corruption in the industry.

Prosecutors in the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn have long focused on such cases.

Its Federal Construction Fraud Task Force has made 61 arrests over the past decade for crimes related to this type of fraud. As a result, forfeiture orders have totaled more than $150 million, and 28 people and companies have been banned from seeking additional federal contracts, according to a recent court filing.

But while the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan has seldom made such cases, the investigation of Skanska signals an increased focus in this area for the prosecutors there, some officials have said.

The reasons seem clear. In the past year, New York City’s four-year-old program has resulted in $511 million in prime contracts and subcontracts for certified companies, according to the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services. Over the life of the city’s program — referred to as W/MBE, for women- and minority-owned business enterprise — more than $1 billion has gone to such contracts, according to the office.

At just one federal agency, the Transportation Department, a similar program resulted in $617 million worth of prime and subcontracts in 2009 in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, officials said. That money was for highway and transportation projects, like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority ones under scrutiny in the two cases, the officials said. That federal program, which certifies and assists what it characterizes as disadvantaged business enterprises, was in some measure the model for the city’s effort.

The investigations developed in two ways. The Brooklyn inquiry grew out of a case focused on mob influence in the trucking industry and the work of an independent monitor who had been hired by the transportation authority to oversee the downtown projects after a scandal involving the construction of the agency’s headquarters, at 2 Broadway.

The trucking investigation uncovered the scheme at the water filtration plant, and the monitor, Toby Thacher, developed information indicating that the disadvantaged business enterprises working on the authority’s projects were fronts. The information was passed on to the office of the transportation authority’s inspector general, Barry Kluger. His office and the federal prosecutors, who in the Brooklyn case worked with the city’s Department of Investigation on the water-treatment plant inquiry, built the cases.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 23, 2010

An earlier version of this article misstated the location of a water treatment facility for New York City.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/nyregion/24fraud.html?pagewanted=1&_r=5

Women's Economic Equality 2010: NEW REPORTS

2010-09-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release Contact: Ariane Hegewisch, 202-785-0109

Young Women Now Less Likely to Work in

Same Jobs as Men
Wage Gap Continues Due to Occupational Segregation

WASHINGTON, DC - A new briefing paper from the Institute for Women's Policy Research charts occupational segregation since the early 1970s. Women continue to enter some high paying male-dominated professions, for example, rising from 4.0 percent to 32.2 percent of lawyers between 1972 and 2009, yet overall progress has stalled since 1996, according to one common measure, the Index of Dissimilarity. Slowing progress, women continue to dominate professions traditionally done by women, which typically pay less, accounting for over 95 percent of all kindergarten teachers, librarians, dental assistants and registered nurses in 2009. A few occupations have witnessed a sharp reversal in desegregation, with women's share falling from over one-third to less than 21 percent of computer programmers since the late 1980s, and women's share of civil engineering declining from 13 percent in 2005 to just over 7 percent in 2009. Most troubling, young women experience more segregation today than they did a decade ago; since 2002, their Index has worsened by 6 percent, erasing nearly one-fifth of the improvement since 1968.

IWPR's Briefing Paper "Separate and Not Equal? Gender Segregation in the Labor Market and the Gender Wage Gap" analyzes data from the Current Population Survey on women's share of occupations from 1972 to 2009. Based on 2009 earnings data, it examines the relationship between median earnings and the gender composition of occupations, differentiating between occupations that are predominantly male, have a relatively even gender balance, and are predominantly female -- for low-skilled, medium-skilled and high-skilled fields.

"It is very likely that the stalled progress in integrating the labor market is contributing to the failure of the wage gap to close," says Heidi Hartmann, President of the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

Working in traditional female occupations can come at a steep price. Women are now proportionately more likely than men to have some years of post-secondary education. Yet, whether an occupation requires college level education or medium-level skills or is low-skilled, typically occupations that are predominantly held by women have lower median earnings than occupations with a more even gender balance or occupations predominantly held by men. There are important exceptions, particularly among medium-skilled occupations: dental hygienists, an occupation almost exclusively held by women, have higher weekly median earnings ($956) than occupations almost exclusively held by men such as electricians ($856) or carpenters ($665). Yet, while over 80 percent of dental hygienists have at least an associate degree, only one in five electricians, and even fewer carpenters, have similar levels of education. To achieve similar earnings, women have to acquire more formal education than do men.

"All workers are likely to do better if they have at least some post-secondary school qualifications. Yet while it is still possible without college to earn a decent wage in some male-dominated occupations, the same is not true in female-dominated occupations," says Ariane Hegewisch, a Study Director at the Institute for Women's Policy Research. "Almost as important as getting a qualification, however, is the field in which you qualify. A speech language pathologist--an occupation that is predominantly female--on average makes $1,153 per week, compared with a pharmacist--an occupation nearly half female--who receives median earnings of $1,841, a difference of close to $700 for a week of full-time work."

The difference in median earnings is not as big in absolute dollar terms for workers in low-skilled occupations. Yet working in a female-dominated, low-skilled occupation (the Bureau of Labor Statisticsidentifies nursing and psychiatric aides, maids and housekeepers and cleaners, and personal and home care aides as the largest occupations in this group) is much more likely to result in earnings close to the poverty threshold than working in low-skilled male dominated occupations (such as truck drivers, laborers and ground maintenance workers). Median weekly earnings in low-skilled, male-dominated occupations were $553 in 2009, compared with $408 in female-dominated occupations.

"Policy makers need to pay attention to the stalled progress in gender desegregation," says Robert Drago, Research Director for the Institute for Women's Policy Research. "Occupational segregation carries costs for the economy and employers by exacerbating skill shortages and causing reduced productivity. It also costs working families. Particularly in low-skilled jobs, working in an occupation predominantly held by women instead of one held by men, may be the difference between earning a poverty wage and earning a family supporting wage."

IWPR's research on occupational segregation and earnings is supported by the Ford Foundation and theRockefeller Foundation.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women and their families, promote public dialogue, and strengthen communities and societies. The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groupsto design, execute, and disseminate research that illuminates economic and social policy issuesaffecting women and their families, and to build a network of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented policy research. IWPR's work is supported by foundation grants, government grants and contracts, donations from individuals, and contributions from organizations and corporations. IWPR is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the women's studies andpublic policy programs at The George Washington University.

For Immediate Release Contact: Dr. Jane Henrici, 202-785-5100

Public Assistance Not Reaching Poor Women During Recession

Tremendous variation across the states

WASHINGTON, DC - 15.5 million women are living in poverty but, as a Briefing Paper released today by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) shows, the number of women receiving public assistance is much smaller. Further, the distribution of supports varies a great deal depending on the region and the state, so that poor women in some parts of the country are much less likely to get help than in others.

"Women in Poverty During the Great Recession," an IWPR Briefing Paper analyzing the most recentAmerican Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau, finds that in every state a large number of adult women who live in poverty are not receiving help through benefit programs. Focusing onfood stamps, heath coverage, and cash assistance, IWPR finds that the rates of adult women in poverty during the recession who are not receiving assistance vary among different public programs and across the states and regions.

Although 10.6 million adult women in poverty have either public or private health insurance, another 4.9 million are not covered. For nutrition support, 5.9 million women in poverty use food stamps, but 9.6 million do not. Meanwhile, fewer than 750,000 poor adult women with children receive cash aid through TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) while 5.4 million do not.

The largest observed gap relates to the TANF program: 88 percent of impoverished women with dependent children are going without that support. Across the states, the percent of women who do not have cash assistance through TANF ranges from the best, at only 60 percent in the District of Columbia, to the worst, at 96 percent in Louisiana.

Health coverage and food stamps reach more women in poverty than TANF, but still leave many uncovered: nationwide, nearly one-third of women in poverty are without either public or private health coverage and 62 percent of poor women do not receive food stamps. The variation across the states is much greater in health coverage than in nutrition support. In Massachusetts, the best state, only 8 percent of poor women are without health insurance, while in Texas, the worst state, 50 percent of poor women have no health coverage. For food stamp benefits, 44 percent of poor women lack that support inMaine, the best state, while 77 percent go without that assistance in California, the worst state.

"Especially during an economic downturn, the social safety net needs to be stronger to help prevent families in poverty from sinking even further," states Dr. Jane Henrici, IWPR Study Director. "During these hard economic times, public assistance programs should support poor women and their families, but too many are not receiving any kind of help at all."

View the Policy Brief here.

The report was prepared with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and theRockefeller Foundation.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies. The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groupsto de sign, execute, and disseminate research that illuminates economic and social policy issuesaffecting women and their families, and to build a network of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented policy research. IWPR's work is supported by foundation grants, government grants and contracts, donations from individuals, and contributions from organizations and corporations. IWPR is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the women's studies andpublic policy programs at The George Washington University.

Human Rights Report Highlights Discrimination, Inequality in U.S.

by James Parks, Sep 3, 2010

The land of the free is not so free if you are poor, a person of color or an immigrant, says a new report. As a result, the U.S. government must aggressively work to eliminate discrimination and disparities throughout society and in the workplace and to ensure that international human rights standards are enforced inside its borders.

The report, compiled by the U.S. Human Rights Network, a coalition of human rights, academic and civil society groups, is part of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights around the world. This is the first time the U.S. government has participated in the review, which occurs every four years. As part of the review, the U.S. government will have to defend its human rights record before a U.N. panel in November 2010.

The report on human rights conditions in the United States highlights the nation’s significant shortcomings in complying with international human rights standards and makes recommendations on how the United States can better meet those standards.

For example, the report points out that the U.S. labor laws fail to protect low-wage workers such asdomestic workers, agricultural workers and independent contractors, who most often are people of color, immigrants or women. According to the report, the nation’s laws also limit freedom of association of workers by excluding large groups from the right to form a union. It calls for expanding and strengthening the right to collective bargaining, either by passing the Employee Free Choice Actor other legislation.

More than 200 nongovernmental organizations and hundreds of advocates across the country have endorsed the report, which took nearly a year to research and produce. The AFL-CIO and affiliated unions participated in several field hearings on human rights across the country that gathered information for the report.

The report addresses a wide range of issues, including education, equality and non-discrimination, capital punishment, treatment of people with disabilities, poverty and access to health care.

Anti-workers have denounced the report. But University of Pennsylvania Law School associate professor Sarah Paoletti, senior coordinator for the Human Rights Network’s UPR Project, says:

Refusing to acknowledge that the U.S. can make any improvements in its human rights policies and practices misses a critical opportunity for the U.S. to demonstrate the need for governments to hold themselves accountable to their constituents at home. Enhancing human rights at home will only strengthen the nation’s standing and influence abroad, and we should embrace the challenge.

To read the U.S. Human Rights Network report, click here. For more information on the UPR process, click here.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/09/03/human-rights-report-highlights-discrimination-inequality-in-u-s/#more-35131

90 Years After the Vote, U.S. Women Still Seek Economic Citizenship

by Tula Connell, Aug 26, 2010

Women won the right to vote 90 years ago today. As historian Christine Stansell points out, the seemingly “no-brainer” move to ensure women have the same political citizenship rights as men was contested in this country until 1984, when Mississippi became the last state to ratify the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

That’s 1984—19 years after the Voting Rights Act and 13 years after 18-year-olds got the right to vote.

Working women today still are fighting for complete citizenship—economic citizenship. The Joint Economic Committee yesterday released a report on economic advances by women over the past quarter century and found that despite a quarter-century of progress,

challenges remain. Certain industries remain heavily gender-segregated. In addition, millions of women are struggling to juggle work outside the home with family care-giving responsibilities.

Sometime this year, the percentage of women in the U.S. workforce became equal to that of men. Yet, as economists point out, the recent decrease in the pay gap between men and women is a reflection of the loss of pay for men, not an increase for women. Women still only make 78 cents for every dollar a man is paid. Further,

wives’ earnings play an increasingly important role in the families’ incomes. In 1983, wives’ incomes comprised just 29 percent of total family income. By 2008, wives’ incomes comprised 36 percent of total family income.

The report also finds women accounted for 45 percent of all union members in 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, up from 34 percent in 1984.

The growing importance of women in the labor movement is likely due to the expansion of female-concentrated sectors such as health care, education, and the service sector combined with the contraction of male-concentrated sectors such as manufacturing.

The pay gap is a lot less for women in unions. But lack of pay equity take a huge chunk out of women’s standards of living as well as their families. Lawmakers finally took action this year and passed the Fair Pay Act. The Senate needs to follow suit. The male-dominated Congress needs to acknowledge that America’s women lack complete economic citizenship.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/08/26/90-years-after-the-vote-u-s-women-still-seek-economic-citizenship/#more-34447

April 20, 2010

Unmarried Women of Color’s Unrealized Potential
August 9, 2010 Single Women’s Economic Insecurity Poses Challenges by Liz Weiss

The Other Half
July 30, 2010 Unmarried Women, Economic Well-Being, and the Great Recession by Liz Weiss, Page Gardner

Unmarried Women Continue to See High Unemployment in April
May 10, 2010 New data released last week by the Labor Department shows the continuing consequences of the Great Recession for unmarried women. This group continues to experience high and extended unemployment as well... by Heather Boushey, Liz Weiss

Local Jobs Act Supports Jobs Needed by Women and Families

As our country continues to suffer the fallout from a deep economic recession, Americans need jobs now more than ever. Projections of a slow labor market recovery underscore the public’s desire for the government to create jobs as revealed in recent polls.

Women breadwinners who head families on their own have been at particular risk. In 2009, their unemployment rate averaged 11.5% compared to 9.3% for the population overall. The rates for women of color have been particularly high, 14.9% among African American women who maintain families and 11.9% among Latinas maintaining families. As both married and unmarried women supply an increasing share of household income, it is important to pass legislation that helps them retain and secure jobs.

As state and local governments in fiscal crisis plan new rounds of layoffs and furloughs of teachers, public safety, health and other service providers, the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812 and S. 3500) fills a widening gap. Women are both providers and consumers of these services. And women are likely to gain employment under this legislation since they comprise nearly two-thirds of state, local and nonprofit workers.

The Local Jobs for America Act will:

 Provide $100 billion over two years to create or save 750,000 jobs providing local services. The jobs are to be ones that restore local jobs terminated within the last five years, retain employees that would have been let go due to fiscal problems, or fill needed services provided by community-based organizations.

 Save 300,000 education jobs with a $23 billion investment this year. Women are 81% of elementary school and 56% of secondary school teachers according to the BLS.

 Provide 50,000 on-the-job training slots to help local businesses create employment opportunities and provide workers will new skills.

 Target communities with high employment needs, focusing on individuals who have experienced longer-term unemployment and/or are veterans.

 Allow up to 5% of nonprofit funding for community jobs to be used for supportive services such as child care and transportation assistance.

###

Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) works nationally and in its home community of Washington, DC to achieve economic independence and equality of opportunity for women and their families at all stages of life. For over 45 years, WOW has been a leader in the areas of nontraditional employment, job training and education, welfare to work and workforce development policy. Since 1995, WOW has been devoted to the self-sufficiency of women and their families through the national Family Economic Security (FES) Project and the Elder Economic Security Initiative.

For more information contact Susan Rees, Director of National Programs and Policy, srees@wowonline.org 1001 Connecticut Ave., NW  Suite 930 Washington, DC 20036  202.464.1596  Fax 202.464-1660  www.wowonline.org

Women and the Economy 2010: 25 Years of Progress But Challenges Remain
This new report issued by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee provides a comprehensive overview of women’s economic progress over the last twenty-five years and highlights the additional work left to be done. Also place this link in “Publications” under “Reports” after the 2007-2015 WB Strategic Plan.

OFCCP in the "City that Works"
Community based organizations throughout Illinois came to a public forum in Chicago on August 20, to hear Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Director Patricia Shiu share OFCCP's plans to support Secretary Solis' vision of "good jobs for everyone." Congressman Danny K. Davis and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky were also guest speakers at the event. Director Shiu stressed jobs, the importance of expanding outreach to workers' rights organizations, the current regulatory reform effort for veterans, individuals with disabilities and construction workers, and her work on the President's National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force. OFCCP's Regional Director Sandra Zeigler provided national and Illinois employment forecasts and regional enforcement accomplishments. The event was organized by Region V Secretary Representative Ken Bennett and the Midwest Region of the OFCCP.

Around DOL

August 19, 2010

OFCCP Compliance Officers Convene at DC Headquarters

Nancy Moss is a new OFCCP compliance officer in San Jose, Calif. district office.
Sixty-six regional personnel from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs convened in Washington D.C. August 9 - 20 for compliance officer training sessions. The event was born out of OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu's commitment to hire 200 new compliance officers for expanded enforcement activities and ensure all compliance officers received uniform, nationally certified training for the first time in more than a decade. Training courses ranged from discrimination theories and interviewing skills, to how to conduct a desk audit. Shiu told the attendees, "You will make sure everyone gets a fair shot at a job and that no one has to endure unlawful harassment of any kind.

Jennifer Yeh is a new OFCCP compliance officer from the Honolulu, Hawaii area office.

The Groundbreaking Generation: Connecticut's First Women in the Trades

2010-07-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD: A documentary about several Connecticut women experiences working in the trades during the 1970s and the 1980s.

http://www.blip.tv/file/4162573/

For more info about obtaining a copy of The Groundbreaking Generation: Connecticut's First Women in the Trades, email ubcsisters@aol.com.

Produced and Directed by Magaret Conable, New England Regional Council Carpenter

Department of Labor Awards $1.8 mil in WANTO Grants -2010

2010-07-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

News Release
WB News Release: [06/14/2010]
Contact Name: Jennifer Kaplan or Lina Garcia
Phone Number: (202)693-5052 or x4661
Release Number: 10-0817-NAT

US Department of Labor announces $1.8 million in grants to support women in non-traditional occupations

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a total of $1.8 million in funding to six organizations in California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania as part of the Women in Apprenticeship and Non-traditional Occupations Grants program. The awards will support partnerships between the grantees and currently existing Registered Apprenticeship programs to ensure that women have training opportunities and career support to succeed in non-traditional occupations in growing sectors of the economy.

"Women always have been critical members of our nation's workforce system, and today's grants are recognition of the need for more talented women to enter into occupations in non-traditional and lucrative industries," said Sara Manzano-Díaz, director of the Labor Department's Women's Bureau. "These funds will provide women with valuable training opportunities by connecting them with established Registered Apprenticeship programs that are focused on preparing female workers for successful long-term careers."

Through these projects, women will be trained for careers in numerous non-traditional fields such as construction and manufacturing. Educational opportunities will support preparation for numerous occupations including: carpenter, cement-mason, construction laborer, electrician, machinist and mechanic, operating engineer, painter/plasterer, plumber and welder. In some cases, women will have the chance to receive U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifications. In other instances, women will be able to attend mentoring and networking programs and receive job placement advice.

Today's grants are awarded to community-based organizations that form a consortium and partner with at least one Registered Apprenticeship program sponsor. These grants are jointly administered by the Labor Department's Women's Bureau and its Employment and Training Administration's Office of Apprenticeship.

The six grantees and amounts awarded are listed below. Visit http://www.doleta.gov to learn more.

Grantee Location Award Amount

Chicago Women in Trades Chicago, Ill. $300,000
Nontraditional Employment for Women New York, N.Y. $300,000
Pennsylvania Women Work Pittsburgh, Pa. $300,000
State Emergency Response Systems Inc. Los Angeles, Calif. $300,000
United Communities Against Poverty Inc. Capitol Heights, Md. $300,000
YWCA of Greater Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio $300,000

Conference Call Audio Files
Conference Call with Women's Bureau Director Sara Manzano-Díaz: [MP3]

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/wb/wb20100817.htm

Labor Department includes Women in green jobs training initiatives report

2010-04-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Labor Department releases report on green jobs training initiatives

DOL EARTH DAY 2010 REPORT

http://www.dol.gov/dol/green/earthday_reportA.pdf

This Earth Day, the U.S. Department of Labor is turning green jobs into golden opportunities safely by working with its community, labor and industry partners to prepare the workforce for high growth fields while building a greener planet. The Labor Department today released a report to demonstrate the programs being supported to promote green job growth. Additionally, the department is launching a campaign called "Turning Green to Gold, Safely" to collect stories from the public about how contributions have been made to green job creation. Entries will be submitted online at http://www.dol.gov over the next year and they will be featured in a best practices guide on Earth Day 2011.

"A changing job market and the evolving clean energy economy are creating new and exciting prospects for workers. At the U.S. Department of Labor, we will continue our efforts to ensure men and women across the nation have the tools they need to access these opportunities," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Turning green to gold — with a constant focus on safety — just makes sense. It means jobs that have livable wages, safe working conditions and worker protections."

Over the past year, the Department of Labor has launched a series of initiatives to support and promote green job creation. Highlights from today's report appear below. To view the full report, visit
http://www.dol.gov/dol/green/earthday_reportA.pdf.

Greening DOL Headquarters and Beyond — The Labor Department has signaled a challenge to "green" its buildings, including its nearly 2 million square foot headquarters, the Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. The department's Job Corps programs and students are also greening the buildings on 123 Job Corps campuses nationwide.

Greening Recovery Act Funds — The Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration has awarded $490 million in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act-funded green jobs training and $227 million in health care and high growth grants, which included several grants related to clean energy.

Not Just Green, but Safe — The Labor Department's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, alongside its Employment and Training Administration, is leading a department-wide team to assist all of the agencies in coordinating their efforts to secure access to safe and sustainable green jobs for all workers.

Women and Green Jobs — In 2009, the department's Women's Bureau convened more than 30 roundtables across the country to discuss the role of women in green jobs and, as a result, developed nine green jobs training projects for women. The bureau has partnered with key groups to develop a "Women's Guide to Green Jobs" to be released this summer.

Vets and Green Jobs — In 2009, the department's Veterans Employment and Training Services issued the first training grants through its Veterans Workforce Investment Program designed to train and place veterans in green jobs and industries. The second competition of this type is now open.

Green Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities — The department's Office of Disability Employment Policy hosted a roundtable in December 2009 titled "Strategies for Including People with Disabilities in the Green Jobs Talent Pipeline." The roundtable united leaders to develop recommendations to ensure that people with disabilities have local green job opportunities.

Job Corps, Youth and Green — Building on Recovery Act funds for construction, rehabilitation, acquisition and operations, Job Corps has implemented "green" student training programs and commenced construction projects at more than 65 centers, helping to create and retain jobs. Job Corps is also conducting an Earth Day Every Day campaign from April 19 through 23 to raise environmental awareness among students nationwide.

http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/24199/Labor-Department-green-jobs

Walsh gives boost to Woman Contractor who gives boost to Tradeswomen

2010-04-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Subcontractor gets boost to contractor

POSTED: Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 04:11 PM PT
BY: Justin Carinci
Tags: Great Kate! Construction, Walsh Construction

Walsh Construction is helping build the skills of small contractor Great Kate Construction, letting it serve as general contractor on the Celilo Court Apartments renovation. The experience will allow Great Kate to bid million-dollar-plus projects as a general contractor. (Photo by Dan Carter/DJC)

Kathryn Merritt had remodeled enough homes that the Celilo Court Apartments project didn’t scare her. “I could do these buildings in my sleep,” she said.

However, Merritt, owner of Great Kate Construction, hadn’t counted on the paperwork and administrative hoops required in public contracting, “I’m going to print up my own MBA when this job’s done,” she said.

Great Kate is general contractor for that 28-unit apartment complex overhaul in Northeast Portland, worth more than $1 million.

The project came from a unique arrangement between Walsh Constructionand Great Kate. Walsh won a contract with the Housing Authority of Portland to serve as construction manager-general contractor on five apartment complex remodel jobs.

For one of those, Celilo Court, Walsh turned the project over to Great Kate. It’s a vote of confidence, said Dan Snow, senior project manager for Walsh; he knows his company’s reputation with the housing authority is on the line.

“We’re ultimately responsible for everything on the project,” Snow said. “They know they can come back to us on anything.

“We hold (Great Kate) to pretty high standards - the same standards we’re held to,” he said.

Great Kate has done the type of work on the project - new floors, furnaces, water heaters, kitchens - many times. “It’s not a huge construction leap for her,” Snow said. “Administrative, yes. Construction-wise, it’s not too far out of her box.”

Walsh has twice worked with small contractors like Great Kate, helping them develop skills so they can grow from subcontractor to general contractor. When she’s done with Celilo Court, Merritt can bid as a general contractor on housing authority or other projects, which she plans to do.

Kathryn Merritt, owner of Great Kate Construction, discusses work at the Celilo Court Apartments project in Northeast Portland. (Photo by Dan Carter/DJC)

That puts Walsh in the position of boosting companies that will compete against Walsh for projects. “That is a concern,” Snow said. “But giving smaller companies, target businesses, minority- and women-owned companies the opportunity to succeed … more than outweighs the risks of having them compete against us.”

For the Celilo Court project, Merritt considers herself as much of a mentor as a mentee. “Because we have work and other people don’t, we have a responsibility to share it,” she said.

Merritt hired out-of-work contractors and sought to make sure her subcontractors use a diverse workforce. She also pays special attention to apprentices, ensuring they have opportunities to grow.

Carrie Davis, an apprentice carpenter for the Celilo Court project, said female apprentices at other jobs get stuck doing cleanup or driving trucks. “I talk to my friends and they always say, ‘I’m the only woman on the job,’ ” Davis said.

“That’s never the case here.”

Merritt, who started working as a carpenter in 1979, still resists pigeonholing. She wants to do good work, period, and not just good work for a minority-, woman- and emerging-small-business firm.

“I don’t really want to be known as a really good MWESB contractor, just like I never wanted to be known as a really good female carpenter,” she said. “We don’t need that diminutive attached to what we do.”

Part of Merritt’s training goal is to encourage talented tradeswomen to be vocal. “I have to teach them to speak up and be assertive, to say ‘Hey! I’ve got the other end of something.’ ”

Another piece is making connections. “Who you know socially affects who you can get a job from,” Merritt said.

She first connected with Walsh by meeting one of the company’s carpenters on a Habitat for Humanity job. That led to a house remodel job, and eventually Celilo Court.

Doing good work and going through established channels isn’t always enough, Merritt said. Some contractors prequalify for agency lists, register as MWESB firms and still don’t get work.

“Some of these things aren’t as valuable as taking the project manager out for a beer,” she said.

http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/04/22/subcontractor-gets-boost-to-contractor/

Washington DOT to hold a roundtable for minority and women contractors on April 27, 2010

2010-04-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Contact:

Jackie Bayne, WSDOT Office of Equal Opportunity, 360-705-7084, or toll-free 1-888-259-9143

OLYMPIA – Minority and women-owned businesses that desire to work on state transportation construction projects are encouraged to join Washington State Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration officials, along with state lawmakers for a community roundtable in Shoreline.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, April 27, from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Shoreline City Hall Council Chambers, 17500 Midvale Avenue, Shoreline, WA.

The community roundtable is an opportunity for minority and women contractors to voice concerns and discuss barriers to participating on WSDOT construction projects. The goal of the roundtable is to bring all parties together to find solutions.

Topics that will be covered during the roundtable include:

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals
Barriers to participation
DBE support services program
U.S. Department of Transportation’s bonding assistance program
WSDOT’s DBE plan
Upcoming projects
DBE certification

Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) is a program intended to increase the opportunities for minority and women-owned small businesses to participate in federally-funded projects. WSDOT provides training and business support services to help DBEs become successful in doing business with the agency.

The roundtable is free of charge, however space is limited and reservations are required by Friday, April 23. To reserve a spot, call toll-free 1-888-259-9143 or e-mail dbess@wsdot.wa.gov.

# # #

Canada's Construction Sector Council hosts symposium to discuss lack of women in trades

2010-04-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

April 26, 2010

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

The Canadian construction industry is taking steps to address the longstanding shortage of women in the industry as it grapples with an ongoing labour shortage.

An initial step in that campaign was the first-ever industry-sponsored symposium addressing barriers to women in the industry and possible solutions.

“What we were looking at was to position this issue as a leadership challenge,” said Rosemary Sparks, senior director of planning and development with the Construction Sector Council (CSC).

“Clearly, it stands to reason that leadership has a role to play because we are talking about a cultural change.”

About 50 people from a wide cross-section of industry — including women’s groups, trades women, business, labour, construction associations, government and owners — participated in the one-day event in Toronto.

“The idea of the symposium is when people leave the room and they go back to their place of work, they look at how they can make a change in their environment,” said Sparks.

The Canadian construction industry is taking steps to expand the domestic labour pool by improving access to industry careers for older workers, Aboriginal people, immigrants and women.

“The symposium was unique, because this time it was initiated by industry,” said George Gritziotis, executive director of the Construction Sector Council (CSC).

“The industry was saying we have to take a look at the systematic issues that need to be addressed. We talk a lot about women in the construction industry, but the reality is that the number of women on tools and in professional occupations has not changed dramatically.”

According to a report produced by the CSC, which also focused on the state of women in construction, the numbers of women in the construction industry and their participation rate has not grown much over time.

The number of women in registered trades apprenticeships in Canada more than tripled (from 12,480 to 38,070) between 1996 and 2007.

But while the total number of women registering in trades apprenticeship has gone up, they still represent a very small — albeit growing — percentage of total apprentices.

The failure of education to target girls for careers in construction was cited as a key reason why women’s participation in construction is not increasing more significantly.

Hard physical labour, working outside, the cyclical nature of work, the hours, travel and discrimination against women also discourages girls and women from choosing construction careers, experts say.

Another reason there are not more women in the construction trades is the high rate of turnover among female workers.

The CSC is using its report and the symposium as the foundation for producing a strategy that will identify and document industry’s best practices in recruitment, apprenticeship training and education, hiring/employment, and the workplace.

One possible recommendation is to increase pre-apprenticeship programming to prepare more women to enter the trades and expose them to construction workplaces before career training.

This would involve work-hardening experiences to prepare women to be more fully equipped to succeed in gender-segregated construction workplaces.

At another level, there is a need to provide employment placement services, ongoing supports and mentoring from women in the construction trades.

http://dcnonl.com/article/id38580

EQUAL PAY DAY 2010 - Study Finds Women Earn Less Than Men For The Same Occupation

2010-04-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

On Equal Pay Day, Study Finds Women Earn Less Than Men - Whether They Do the Same or Different Jobs
Whether they work in the same occupations as men or work in different occupations, women's median earnings are lower than men's, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). Using the most recent data for full-time workers released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics the study finds that there are only four occupations, out of the 108 occupations with enough men and women to estimate earnings for both groups, where women earn more than men. In the 104 others, women's median earnings are less.

The occupation where women have the highest earnings compared with men is 'dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers' (the female/male earnings ratio is 111.1 percent, based on median weekly earnings in 2009 that were $400 for women, $360 for men), an occupation that ranks among the ten lowest paid occupations for men, with average earnings for both men and women well below median earnings for all workers.

The pay gap is widest for 'physicians and surgeons,' an occupation that ranks among the Ten Highest Paid Occupations for both men and women; the female/male earnings ratio is 64.2 percent, based on median weekly earnings of $1,182 for women, and $1,914 for men).

The data show strong occupational segregation - women working in occupations primarily done by women, and men in occupations primarily done by men. The share of men and women who worked in 'traditional occupations' (where their sex accounts for at least 75% of workers) fell slightly in 2009- but still characterizes the jobs of four of ten women, and over four of ten men; the change since 2008 is likely due to the recession; job losses were particularly severe in predominantly male sectors like construction. Compared with men, women are slightly more likely to work in nontraditional occupations (where the other gender are at least 75 percent of the workforce) - 5.5 percent of women compared with 4.5 percent of men. Typically occupations where women are in the minority have higher average earnings than occupations with a high share of women.

Historical data on occupational segregation since 1972, based on the Index of Dissimilarity, shows that until the mid 1990s, occupations became more integrated. Yet since the mid 1990s there has been no further progress. We are still as unlikely to see female carpenters, and mechanical engineers or male Pre-school and kindergarten teachers, as we were 25 years ago.

A Note on the Calculation of the Wage Gap
The weekly gender wage gap in 2009 was 19.8 percent (reflecting a female/male earnings ratio of 80.2 percent, based on median full-time weekly earnings of $657 for women, and $819 for men). This is marginally lower than the weekly gender wage gap in 2008 of 20.1 percent (or earnings ratio of 79.9 percent). (The annual earnings gap for 2008 was 22.9 in 2008; annual data for 2009 are not yet available).

View the Fact Sheet here: http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350a.pdf
IWPR Media Citations on Equal Pay Day
In recognition of Equal Pay Day, national media outlets use IWPR's research to spotlight the gender wage gap and wage gap by occupation. Here are a couple of samples:
Women in top-paying jobs still make less than men
CNNMoney.com
by Allanlyn Censky
"CEO, pharmacist and lawyer are among the 10 most lucrative job titles for women, according to the study released Tuesday by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. But while women in those positions earned median pay topping $100,000 a year, that was just about 75% of what men with the same job titles earned."
Why do Women Still Earn Less Than Men?
TIME Magazine online
by Laura Fitzpatrick
"Skeptics who deem the 77% estimate too optimistic also note that the figure only counts women working full-time (35 hours a week or more, for the full year) and doesn't account for the fact that women are far more likely to take time off to start a family or work part-time while rearing one. Over a period of 15 years, according to a 2004 study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), a full 52% of women in the prime earning age range of 26 to 59 go through at least one full calendar year earning nothing at all, compared to just 16% of men."

A new report finds union construction jobs benefits workers, their families, and entire communities

2010-04-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Socio-Economic Impacts of

Construction Unionization

in Massachusetts

Maria Figueroa, Cornell ILR

Jeff Grabelsky, Cornell ILR

March 2010

http://builtbest.org/sites/builtbest.prometheuslabor.com/files/Cornell%20Report.pdf

Study: Union Construction Jobs Help Economy

by James Parks, Apr 15, 2010

A new study shows union construction jobs not only provide workers with a good middle-class income, but the benefits extend to the communities and states where they live.

The report, “The Socio-Economic Impacts of Construction Unionization in Massachusetts,” by Maria Figueroa and Jeff Grabelsky of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, found the earnings of union construction workers in Massachusetts added $4.6 billion overall to the Bay State economy in 2007.

Says Mary Vogel, executive director of The Construction Institute, which released the study:

This study confirms what we already knew to be true-unionization in the construction industry not only creates middle class career opportunities in the building trades for Massachusetts residents, but results in significant economic benefits for the Commonwealth and the local communities in which our members live and work.

While many employers are pushing down wages and benefits, the authors found that union construction wages are helping hold up standards. For example, Massachusetts union construction workers earn an average of $13 more per hour than nonunion workers. When benefits are included, they average $28.35 more per hour than their nonunion counterparts. Those wages generate countless benefits for the Massachusetts economy, resulting in more than $2 billion in additional income for building trades’ members and a total income gain of $1.74 billion for all Massachusetts families.

With state economies across the country in a tailspin, union construction wages helped boost Massachusetts’ economy. At the same time, nonunion construction workers added to the state’s social and economic costs. Nonunion construction workers have mostly inadequate or virtually non-existent health care coverage, which shifts the cost of their care to taxpayers.

Writing in Daily Kos, The Electrical Worker says:

Anti-union groups, like Associated Builders and Contractors, routinely denounce union labor for its higher wages, but the study finds that nonunion labor isn’t necessarily cost-effective.

He quotes the study:

There are economic and social costs associated with the lower quality of the training provided to nonunion workers, and the consequent higher number of occupational injuries they endure….Labor cost savings, however, can translate into costs being shifted onto taxpayers and society as a whole, when employers fail to pay appropriate levels of payroll taxes and workers’ compensation premiums.

The study also found:

Employers often deliberately misclassify nonunion construction employees to pay them lower wages, which results in millions lost in state income and payroll taxes.
Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) records for the Massachusetts construction industry reveal that 88 percent of the violations between 2004 and 2009 were committed by nonunion contractors.

To read the full report, click here.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/04/15/study-union-construction-jobs-help-economy/

How much of this public money is going to put women and people of color to work? -MnDOT

2010-04-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

Making MnDOT hire more women, people of color

BY LAWRENCE SCHUMACHER, TC DAILY PLANET

April 15, 2010

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced asummer road construction season containing 283 projects worth $1.3 billion in state funding.

So, how much of that public money is going to put people to work who are women or from communities of color?

According to MnDOT, the state transportation agency was not able last year to meet even its own modest goal of making sure 8.75 percent of its contracts went to people who weren't white males.

Instead, it ended up sharing that public funding with contractors whose workforce contained only 6.59 percent nonwhite employees.

Enter SF 2585 from Sen. Linda Higgins, DFL-Minneapolis, and HF 3099 from Rep. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis.

In their original form, these bills would have required the Transportation Commissioner to include in every bid contract a goal for hiring contractors and workers who meet federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise definitions, and require contract bidders to note on their bids what percentage of their workforce comes from that pool of talent.

If they don't meet the goal, or can't show why they deserve a waiver, MnDOT wouldn't be able to give them the contract. Even if they receive a waiver, a contractor who gets the contract but doesn't meet the goal would be penalized financially.

"We are committed to getting MnDOT to attain their goals of hiring construction companies owned by women and people of color," Higgins said at a recent hearing on the bill. "Some contractors have exceeded those goals. Others can't manage to get their workforces to look like the people of this state."

However, in these tight budget times, the bill would have potentially cost more tax dollars to enforce. So in a Senate Finance Committee hearing this week, Higgins agreed to water down the bill to let a collaborative of volunteers working with MnDOT to improve its hiring of minority and women contractors and employees figure it out and report back to the Legislature next year.

The modified bill is headed for a floor vote in the Senate. An undiluted House bill has yet to come before the House Finance Committee for approval.

Lawrence Schumacher

Lawrence Schumacher (lawrence@tcdailyplanet.net) is a freelance journalist with 12+ years covering Minnesota communities, government, politics and elections.

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/04/15/making-mndot-hire-more-women-people-color

Carpenters get college credit for apprentice work

2010-04-14T01:44:00.000-07:00

NAILING A DEGREE

Carpenters get credit for apprentice work

BY JONATHAN BALTHASER
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY NEWS

Monday, April 12th 2010, 4:43 PM

Alex Johnson doesn't crumble working under often brutal conditions, erecting walls, joining girders and welding steel as a carpenter.

But his first day of college terrified him.

"I was scared as hell," said the 33-year-old Bronx resident. "I didn't think I could do it."

Johnson enrolled last September in a special two-year-old program organized through the New York City District Council of Carpenters that helps members earn associate's and bachelor's degrees.

Students take classes in Tribeca at the State University of New York 's Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies, a program that focuses on educating trade workers.

Carpenters always have been able to attend the school. But now apprenticeship classes taken at the Council of Carpenters Labor Technical College count for as much as 32 college credits, so most students matriculate with half of their degree already completed.

"The incentive of the 32 credits was huge," said Johnson, a carpenter for the past 11 years. "In my eyes, it would be stupid for me not to do it. If I'm giving it to you on a silver platter and you don't take it, that's dumb."

Mike Merrill, the dean of the Van Arsdale Center, said it was high time that technical colleges received college accreditation.

"Wage earners are disadvantaged in that their apprenticeship programs don't usually count for college credit," said Merrill. "Dancers and painters, for instance, their work is recognized. I don't see the difference, except in ideology."

The carpenters union is getting each of its apprenticeship programs evaluated for college credit by the National Program on Noncollegiate Sponsored Instruction, a state-run group that accredits educational programs conducted by noncollegiate organizations.

The millwrighting, cabinetmaking, and building and construction carpentry programs have been approved. College credit will soon be considered for dockbuilders, piledrivers, and timbermen.

The carpenters union is making a concentrated push to educate more of its members.

"The union movement needs college-educated leaders at all levels, including the rank-and-file. It cannot effectively represent or be advocates for the interest of working people and their families without confident, articulate, well-educated leaders who know who they are, what they believe in, and what they have to do to secure their fair share," union promotional material states.

So far, 30 students have enrolled in the program, and the first is set to graduate with a bachelor's degree in June.
At the Van Arsdale campus, carpenters take a range of general education courses, including several that focus specifically on the history of the labor movement.

"You go to college not to leave the union, but to lead it," Merrill said.
Like all other college students, one of the greatest burdens for carpenters is financial.

Classes at SUNY cost $207 per credit, so tuition will set back students at least $6,600. The carpenters union currently does not offer scholarships.
Johnson made it through his first day of school, and now says the associate's degree he's pursuing is just the first step of his college education. After he graduates, he is interested in construction management or becoming a union organizer.

"When I'm done, I'm going to continue to go to school," he said. "I'm going to go all the way. Maybe Ph.D. Go for it. Why the hell not?

"My biggest mistake was putting a limit on myself."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/04/12/2010-04-12_nailing_a_degree.html