Ontario Local Made Recruiting Female Apprentices a Priority. It Paid Off.

[Omaha Steve]

Local 804’s pre-apprenticeship class from summer 2022, when it included four women. Training director Peter Caesar is second from the right. Training instructor Jessica Gemmell is second from the left.

https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2203/230316_OntarioLocal-Made

Ontario Local Made Recruiting Female Apprentices a Priority. It Paid Off.
April 13, 2023

In 2017, Kitchener Local 804 — a major construction local in southern Ontario — had eight women among its membership. Leadership decided that needed to be addressed. The local needed to give more people a chance at the life-changing impact of IBEW membership and help meet the need for skilled construction workers.

Brian Jacobs, now the business manager, was on staff as an organizer then. He's pleased to report that the number of women is growing — Local 804 now has 42 women working as members. And Jacobs is convinced that the number will grow at an even faster pace in the future after 13 joined in the past year alone.

"Construction has been a male-dominated profession for the most part from the beginning," said Jacobs, who has been business manager since February 2020. "It's a little intimidating for women to step into that world."

"But the reality is you're excluding 50% of the workforce. That's a whole bunch of untapped skill sets," he added. "Mark and I decided we needed to address that."

Jacobs was referring to Mark Watson, Local 804's previous business manager, who now serves as executive assistant to the First District International vice president.

FULL story at link above.


Kitchener, Ontario, Local 804 training instructor Jessica Gemmell.