Women in Construction

Ms. Tara Williams of East Bridgewater has been accepted in apprenticeship by Laborers Local 721, an affiliate of the Laborers International Union of America, AFL-CIO, in East Bridgewater.  Ms. Williams is a June 2019 graduate of Building Pathways South, a new Pre-Apprenticeship program preparing low-income men & women for careers in the Building Trades with a goal of increasing job-site diversity.

Building Pathways South is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and is a collaboration of the Brockton & Vicinity Building Trades Council, the Southeastern Massachusetts Building Trades Council and the Women's Fund of SE Mass.  The program’s fiscal sponsor is Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund.

“The program and the instructor were really great.  We were introduced to many of the apprenticeship programs in the trades and took classes to prepare us for construction.  The Laborers training program was accessible for me and I could work out childcare.  The wages and benefits are much better than retail!” Ms. Williams said. 

Ms. Williams completed the Laborers General Construction School in Hopkinton, MA in September and recently obtained her first job in the field.  Once employed, Laborer apprentices must complete 300 hours of job-related instruction and 4000 hours of employment for union contractors to become journeymen/women.  Under the apprenticeship program, each apprentice receives a pay increase after every 1000 hours of employment.