Force be with them

Local union leaders agree to open their ranks and give minorities and women half of the coveted apprentice-training positions

by Joe O'Brien

On a Sunday evening early last month, a coalition of trade unions, religious leaders, and representatives of women and minority groups gathered in a crowded church hall to celebrate an historic agreement. The organizations finalized a "mission statement," which established that over the next three years the area's 15 construction trade unions would give women and minorities 150 of the area unions' 300 apprentice training-program slots. Encouraged by Worcester's ongoing billion-plus-dollar construction boom, advocacy groups had worked for two years to ensure that all of the city's residents -- specifically those living in the inner city, where unemployment rates remain higher than the city as a whole -- reap some of the awards in terms of high-paying, skilled trade jobs. Though it's gone virtually unnoticed in the local media, the agreement is a remarkable story of how the traditionally white-male trade unions agreed to open up their ranks. It's also a testament to the growing political savvy of union leadership, which recognizes new allies are vital to labor's continued strength. How these diverse groups came together to voluntarily create a comprehensive program to hire more women and minorities, should serve as a model for city leaders who maintain a dismal record on public-sector affirmative-action hiring and promotions.

Many politicians like to speak about the importance of "good jobs at good wages," but if you need evidence that last month's labor agreement has significance, look no further than Worcester's Gil Jenkins. For most of his life, the handsome, muscular 46-year-old Jenkins and his wife, Brenda, have struggled to support themselves and their five children on salaries from low-paying jobs.

"You just can't support your family on a $10-an-hour job," Jenkins says. "You live paycheck to paycheck and are always behind on your bills, and that's not living."

Jenkins yearned for an opportunity to break into the ranks of Worcester's skilled labor, and, after years of trying, he was at last hired by the laborer's union. "It took a long time to get this job, and I had to break down doors to get it," he says, adding, "it was worth the effort." Today Jenkins makes $19 an hour as a construction laborer on the Worcester Medical Center project. "Now I can afford new clothes for my kids, to go out on the town; and I am even doing a little work on my house."

Perhaps more important, Jenkins finally has a sense of security that eluded him because of the benefits the union offers its workers. "In the past, I have worked on jobs doing dangerous work where they pay you slave wages, and, if you're injured, you're on your own." For Jenkins knows that he will work on a safe job site, and if he is injured the union will provide.

"Now my life is less stressful because I know that I can work and support my family as long as my body can take it," he says.

As far as last month's labor agreement goes, Jenkins considers it a good sign for the city's inner-city labor force. "Too many kids today who don't go on to college end up in dead-end jobs that don't pay well enough to support a family," he says.

Though local labor leaders say their ranks have always been open, in practice, few women and minorities were members. In fact, they concede, labor struggled to meet the "20 percent minorities and 10 percent women" goal established several years ago when construction began at the Medical Center.

Under the new agreement, the 15 different trades that make up the local Building and Construction Trades Council will give minorities and women preference for half of the highly competitive, paid apprentice positions. Program graduates receive a license to work in a particular trade, such as plumbing or carpentry, and are eligible for better-paying jobs.

While enrolled in the licensing programs, trainees work during the day on a job site and then go to school in the evenings at nearby centers. For example, carpenters hold training in Millbury, and the plumbers have a similar facility in Worcester.

According to council president Mike Coonan, it is the training that is a key difference between working for the union and working for a non-union shop. "Once someone becomes a member of our unions, they can support their families for life because they have a trade," he says.

It was Worcester's unprecedented construction boom that first prompted Worcester Interfaith, a coalition (in which I was involved) of 18 churches and synagogues, to delve into the local job-creation issue that ultimately became last month's mission statement. In the past three years, the organization has worked to improve local neighborhoods by focusing on three key issues: youth, public safety, and job development. But it was the jobs effort that had proceeded slowly. Religious leaders struggled to develop strategies to create sufficient employment opportunities so people could support a family but still have time to participate in community life. It was a task that was particularly daunting in Worcester, a city that for decades watched manufacturing jobs disappear only to be replaced by low-paying, service-sector positions.

As a first step, Worcester Interfaith leaders joined with other community groups to negotiate the agreement with St. Vincent's (which is now owned Tenet Health Care) before construction began on the Medical Center project. The key part of the deal called for the construction workforce to be made up of 50 percent Worcester residents, 20 percent of which would be minorities and 10 percent women. The agreement led to the hiring of large numbers of minorities and women for the yet-to-be-completed project (Gil Jenkins is one such construction worker) and is seen by coalition members as a model. As Coonan says, "Bob Maher [St. Vincent's president] really helped prove that these types of agreements can work."

Buoyed by their success, Interfaith members reached out to local labor unions and minority groups to try and make the Medical Center's hiring agreement a requirement for all publicly financed projects. "We were seeking to open up the job market to those who have usually been excluded from the construction industry, and economically [enlist] those who are left behind," says Worcester Interfaith president Wally Tillman.

To this end, Interfaith met with Coonan, head of the Trades Council, who was instrumental in negotiating the Medical Center hiring arrangement.

Coonan also led the effort to pass the 1997 "Worcester Responsible Employer Ordinance." The ordinance requires publicly funded projects worth more than $500,000 have 50 percent of the construction force made up of city residents, and it mandates that workers receive on-the-job training and health and disabilities benefits. In addition, the ordinance established "goals": 10 percent of the workforce should be minorities and 5 percent women.

So when Coonan sat down with Worcester Interfaith, he convinced church leaders that instead of drafting a new ordinance the group should improve upon the 1997 law.

From there, Robert Thomas and James Bonds from the Business Inclusion Council (previously called the Minority Business Council), who had been working with St. Vincent's to train and recruit minority workers, were enlisted; as were Karen Fine of the City Manager's Advisory Committee on Women and YWCA Director Linda Cavaioli.

This committee then worked out the details over several months to strengthen the ordinance and began lobbying city officials and city councilors.

But it was City Manager Tom Hoover who raised the critical issue when he met with Interfaith members: would the area unions have enough minorities and women in their ranks to meet the goals?

And this is what led to the historic agreement last month.

Though not a complex deal, it took so long to finalize because the different parties had to learn to trust each other.

"From my personal perspective I began this process with an anti-union perspective," says Interfaith's Tillman. "I was very nervous about working with the union, and I only did this because I wanted jobs for minorities and women. But as we got to know each other, I became pro-union because they are interested in supporting families and providing career opportunities with benefits and training."

Reverend Tillman also points out that training will also be crucial to people coming of welfare who are now being pushed into low-paying jobs. Training programs like these "allow former welfare recipients to move into the middle class."

Supporters maintain that creating more skilled-laborer jobs will eventually pump more money into the inner-city economy. Coonan says that the union's research indicates that every dollar paid in union wages gets recalled seven times back into the community.

A point not lost on Gil Jenkins, "These jobs not only benefit the people who are working, they also are good for the whole community because we have money to spend in local stores and restaurants."

What this agreement also does is allow union leadership to make new allies with church and minority leaders, and that will benefit the trade unions in the long run.

These are allies that labor may need in the future to make sure that large public and private construction jobs employ union workers. And coalition members have already begun flexing some of this new political muscle by meeting one-on-one with city councilors to secure their support, so eventually the 1997 ordinance can be revised.

As one political insider who attended these meetings comments, "It will be damn hard for an elected official to say no to a group that represents a large number of unions, churches, and minority groups -- that's a lot of voters."

The next logical step once the ordinance is revised would be to target large private construction projects. Though no member of the group will confirm such a strategy, Coonan is quick to contrast the construction force at the Medical Center with that of the new Grove Street Marriott hotel building (which is non-union and mostly out-of-state labor). To many members of the coalition, this project is a prime example of why stricter hiring requirements are needed. In the Marriott building, most of the workers are from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Local trade unions picketed the site, and, as a result of public pressure, the project's contractor agreed to hire local union members. Though the proposed ordinance only deals with public projects, local unions will now be able to make a stronger case that city officials should expand the new ordinance to private developers who receive tax breaks or subsidies from the city.

"We must make sure that public dollars are used for public good," says Tillman.

Finally, the agreement to recruit, train, and hire more minorities and women should, at the very least, serve as a model for improving the city's failing affirmative-action efforts. Today, the city's workforce comprises only 10 percent minorities and most of those positions are entry level. While a court order prompted the hiring of more minorities within the police and fire departments, they still make up a tiny part of both departments. And the record of promoting women and minorities into leadership positions is embarrassing. Currently none of the city's 32 departments is led by a minority and only two are led by women.

By voluntarily signing this agreement, union officials have recognized the value of diversity and believe that it will help make for a stronger organization. It will remain to be seen if local political leaders can learn the same lesson.

Joe O'Brien can be reached at joescastle@aol.com