Susan Rees

1
Women and Green Jobs

• Susan Rees
• Wider Opportunities for Women
• April 1, 2009
• srees_at_wowonline.org

2
What Are Green Jobs?

• Green relates to a jobs purpose
• Jobs that conserve energy, expand renewable
  energy sources, conserve or improve the
  environment
• 40 of energy is used to heat and cool buildings
• 40 of green jobs expected in making buildings
  energy efficient
• Therefore, many green jobs will be in
  construction similar to traditional
  construction laborer and skilled trades.
• Building retrofit, HVAC
• Infrastructure development, e.g. smart grid,
  mass transit
• And manufacturing wind turbines, solar panels,
  auto batteries

3
Skills Required for Green Jobs

• Traditional construction skills with added
  technical aspects
• And thinking green, understanding systems
• Community college course for commercial
  HVAC-refrigeration
• 2-year, 53 units
• How buildings work building commissioning
• Energy use trend analysis and diagnostics
• Control system programming
• Communication and presentation skills
• Basic skills, including trigonometry and geometry

4
Green A Road to Better Jobs for Women?

• Construction and other green jobs likely will pay
  more than those traditionally held by women.
• 2/3 of all working women are clustered in only 21
  of 500 job categories (Women Work, using BLS
  data)
• Except for nurses and school teachers, these
  categories include some of the lowest paying
  industries
• Retail
• Personal services
• Food establishments

5
The Boost From Construction Wages

• Single mother with one preschooler needs
• 24,139 to make ends meet, WOWs national median
  Self-Sufficiency Standard in 2007.
• 60 of such women had income below the national
  median.
• 2007 BLS average annual construction salaries
• Laborers -- 30,950
• HVAC - Refrigeration, Mechanics and Installers --
  40,630
• Insulation workers -- 41,480
• Plumbers, Pipefitters, Steamfitters -- 48, 442
• Electricians -- 48,100

6
Union vs. Non-union Wages

• Typical construction trades union member -- 993/
  week, 51,636/year
• Non-union -- 624/week, 32,448/year
• Government certified apprenticeships in the
  trades are road to higher paying, long-term
  careers in construction, BUT
• Only 11.5 of construction jobs are union jobs.
• (Source Economic Policy Institute)

7
How Many Stimulus Jobs Will Be Green?

• Jobs created by Recovery Act Spending
• EPI estimates 200 billion in construction
  spending over 2 years will create 770,000 jobs
  in
• Transportation infrastructure
• School retrofit
• Electric power grid
• Home Weatherization Assistance Program
• GSA federal building retrofit
• Public and affordable housing

8
How Many Green Jobs for Women?

• Not many, if current workforce composition is any
  guide
• Women in construction overall (non-office) --
  2.6
• Construction laborers 2.7
• HVAC, Refrigeration 0.9
• Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters 1.5
• Electricians 1.7
• Insulation workers 1.9
• Sheet metal workers 3.7
• Manufacturing Machinists 5.2

9
Training funds in Recovery and Reinvestment Act

• 1.2 billion - dislocated worker services
• 750 million - competitive grants in high-growth
  sectors, including green and broadband expansion
• 500 million - WIA adult program
• All the above include
• Targeting to low-income populations
• Supportive services
• Needs-based cash payments
• 1 billion Weatherization Assistance Program
  training
• 20 million DOT on-the-job training and
  supportive services

10
Adult Education in ARRA

• WIA funds may be used to contract with community
  colleges.
• Funds in the State Fiscal Assistance Fund for
  education may be directed to programs funded
  under the Perkins Career and Technical Assistance
  program.
• Maximum Pell grants are increased by 500 to a
  maximum of 4,860.
• New American Opportunity Tax Credit replaces and
  expands the Hope Scholarship to 2,500 and makes
  it refundable below 90,000 income (180,000
  joint returns).

11
How to Ensure Women Get Green Jobs

• Comprehensive approach, including
• Hiring goals or preferences
• Enforcement of nondiscrimination and equal
  opportunity laws
• Pre-apprenticeship programs that include
• Local labor market analysis
• Specialized outreach
• Orientation to construction field
• Support services and stipends, including child
  care and transportation to job sites
• Programs addressing sexual harassment
• Apprenticeship placements involving unions and
  employers

12
At the Federal Level

• Improve WANTO (Women in Apprenticeship and
  Nontraditional Occupations) enacted in 1992
• Shown to increase womens employment in
  higher-paying occupations by 47 (Mastracci)
• Pre-apprenticeship training and support services,
  including outreach and coordination with
  labor-management councils
• Authorized at 1 million often funded at less.
• Administered by Womens Bureau
• 20 programs have closed due to lack of funding.

13
DOLs Green Jobs Training Act

• Green Jobs Training Act of 2007
• Pathways Out of Poverty competitive demonstration
  grants
• Targets individuals with income less than 200 of
  the Self-Sufficiency Standard
• Should consider womens needs in program
  implementation.
• DOL should include WANTO-type pre-apprenticeship
  programs as nonprofit partners to receive grants.
• Data collection requires gender, race, age and
  parenting status, job placement and average wage
  at placement, including benefits.

14
DOT - Federal Highway Administration

• Office of Civil Rights On-the-Job-Training and
  Supportive Services http//www.fhwa.dot.gov/aaa/gt
  up.htm
• Competitive grants to state highway departments.
• Purpose increase employment of minorities,
  women and disadvantaged individuals in
  transportation jobs.
• Includes recruitment, skills training, job
  placement, child care, outreach, transportation
  to work sites, pre-employment assessment,
  mediation and counseling.
• Pipeline programs may include
  transportation-related internships, cooperative
  education, post-secondary support activities.

15
Federal Nondiscrimination Enforcement

• DOL should strengthen equal opportunity
  monitoring by the Office of Federal Contract
  Compliance Programs in DOL.
• Staffing has been cut by approximately 25 since
  2001.
• Restore the Equal Opportunity Survey requiring
  contractors to submit information on average
  compensation of employees by gender and race.
• Update hiring goals for women (6.9) and
  minorities that remain based on 1970 Census data.
• Expand use of the 2000 MOU between OFCCP and the
  GSA to jointly promote contractor hiring goals on
  selected mega-projects valued over 50 million.

16
At the State and Local Level

• Legislation/regulations should give preference to
  contractors who
• Maximize the hiring of disadvantaged groups,
  including individuals for whom construction is
  nontraditional employment, and
• Provide health and retirement benefits.
• Require agencies to coordinate hiring with local
  community organizations, hiring centers,
  faith-based, labor and nonprofit organizations.
• Require hiring data on Recovery Web sites,
  including to the extent possible gender, race,
  ethnicity, age and previous income.

17
State and Local Level (contd)

• Enact project labor agreements that include
  hiring goals.
• These are negotiated voluntary agreements
  involving, labor, owners and contractor
  organizations for large projects.
• Include womens and community voices at the
  table.
• Monitor payroll data.
• Establish state pre-apprenticeship recruitment,
  training and placement programs.
• E.g. NYC procurement policies require apprentices
  on publicly funded projects for the schools, Port
  and Housing Authorities.
• The citys Labor-sponsored pre-apprenticeship
  program guarantees placement in these certified
  apprenticeships.

18
Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT)

• Camille Cormier
• Wider Opportunities for Women
• April 1, 2009
• ccormier_at_wowonline.org

19
WAWIT Partners and Major Roles

• Wider Opportunities for Women case management,
  non-union job and apprenticeship placement,
  systems advocacy
• YWCA of the National Capital Area main training
  site, curriculum/overall program development and
  implementation
• Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan
  Washington Council, AFL-CIO hands-on and
  120-hour Core Construction training, union job
  and apprenticeship placement, systems advocacy.

20
WAWIT is

• 6 weeks of pre-apprenticeship training with up to
  18 months of case management /job placement
  support for graduates.
• Training that prepares low-income DC area women
  for construction and utility careers paying
  self-sufficient wages .

21
WAWIT Program Components

• Industry-Recognized Certificates
• Core Construction - training/certification using
  AFL-CIOs curriculum topics Construction Math,
  Blueprint Reading, Industry Orientation/Awareness,
  Labor History/Contemporary Issues,
  Tools/Materials
• First Aid CPR
• OSHA 10 Safety
• Hands-on Skills Training 40 hours at a DC area
  Union Apprenticeship Training Center

22
WAWIT Program Components (cont)

• Fitness 3 to 5 hours of weight training per
  week, emphasis on upper body strengthening
• Gender Issues in Construction
• Green Jobs Overview
• Job Readiness
• Basic Computer Skills/Research -a-Trade
• Counseling/Case Management (up to 18 months)
• Individual Job Placement (up to 18 months)
• Reading Comprehension
• Supporting Our Sisters Monthly support groups

23
WANTO Program(a project of WAWIT)

• Women into Apprenticeship and Nontraditional
  Occupations
• Project Goals
• Prepare 200 women over a 2-year period to enter
  high paying construction Registered
  Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) in the Washington
  DC area
• Update and dissemination of Workplace Solutions
  website (www.workplacesolutions.org), an online
  resource for employers and unions on women in
  nontraditional occupations
• Institutionalization of 3 to 5 new
  policies/programs in appropriate RAPsespecially
  in the area of recruitment and retention of
  women.

24
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25
WAWIT Program Outcomes

• Seven (7) class cycles completed since March 2007
• 193 women enrolled
• 118 women graduated (17 of these on 3/26)
• 61 graduation rate
• 52 graduates placed in jobs and apprenticeships
• 44 placement of graduates
• Vigorous placement efforts continue

26
WAWIT Challenges

• Economic Downturn Many skilled workers On the
  Bench
• Not a Union Town 20 of area contractors are
  union
• No major ports or industrial/manufacturing base
• Relatively small population base (582,000 in DC
  5.3 million in DC area) from which to draw
  interested women
• Lack of funding for training and work supports
• Broken and opaque public workforce development
  systems
• High entrance requirements High school
  diploma/GED, strong math skills, drivers
  license
• Suburban Maryland and Virginia student
  recruitment and retention is problematic (bridge
  and tunnel syndrome).

27
WAWIT /WOW Opportunities

• ARRA construction/Green Jobs funding promise
  huge increase in training and jobs for DC area
• Exploring Weatherization Careers with WOW as a
  potential hub
• Partnering w/District, local Green contractors on
  EPA proposal to create Green Jobs pipeline for DC
  women
• DC Green Building Act of 2006 requires
  environmental retrofits, Green standards for new
  construction
• US Green Jobs Act of 2007 retrofit requirements
  apply to the high number of Federal buildings in
  DC area.