January 2020 Newsletter
Trades Women Build Nations: Epic Movement in the Making
The next generation of building trades members came to Minneapolis in October. To organize, to learn, but most importantly, to celebrate being in the trades.
The 9th National Trades Women Build Nations Conference solidified itself as the North America’s Building Trades Union’s (NABTU’s) largest annual gathering. More than 2,700 women from across North America attended, surpassing last year’s total. Equally impressive is that the attendees paid their own way.
“The people in leadership who attended were very surprised at the pride women have in being union trades workers. They couldn’t believe the energy of the conference as a whole,” said Vicki O’Leary, chairwoman of the NABTU committee. “More general presidents taking a role is exactly what we need to keep women’s membership growing.”
Local Minnesota unions and their leadership made a strong contribution to the success of the conference according to Jessica Looman, executive director of the Minnesota Building Trades. “The conference was very well supported by the locals. One thing really exciting to see was local union leadership really embrace the conference not just by asking their members to attend but by encouraging them to be leaders,” she said.