Oregon apprentice line worker Jennifer Smith’s recent struggle to receive her journeywoman card has focused attention on a recurring complaint of many tradeswomen around the world. Women interviewed by ENR say the issue goes beyond harassment at worksites. Their complaint: They are being held out of the construction industry. Photo: Courtesy Of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. Jennifer Smith wants to be the second journey woman-level line worker in Oregon. + Image Photo: Courtesy Of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. “Women have remained 2.5% of the construction-trades skilled workforce for the last 30 years,” says Melina Harris, a Carpenter’s Union Local 1797 member in
Jennifer Smith’s sexual harassment and gender discrimination case against Eugene/Springfield Public Utility District Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee of Oregon is headed for a resolution. Following an investigation by the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries, the apprentice linewoman’s case has been sent to the Oregon State Apprenticeship and Training Council for a final decision, expected sometime in October. Smith filed complaints in December 2009 with BOLI asking it to overturn a local JATC ruling that she was not ready to graduate as a journey-level linewoman. She claimed gender discrimination and sexual harassment during her apprenticeship resulted in her failure to
Geospatial mapping and object- recognition algorithms being developed by researchers in Virginia may soon cut the cost of managing assets like signs and guardrails along highways. Photo: Don Talend, Write Results Inc. The IP-S2 is mounted on a van to survey sign and guardrail conditions at highway speeds. Photo:Eva Kille Sawyer Jesus de la Garza, a civil engineering professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Center for Highway Asset Management Programs (CHAMPS), Blacksburg, Va., expects to start phase two of his research this fall using a TopCon IP-S2 geographic information system—a combination of a Global Positioning System and a
A federal science agency says the Gulf of Mexico coast from the Mississippi River to the western Florida panhandle remain the most vulnerable to oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. Texas’ coast has little chance of being struck but currents in the Gulf raise the probability to six to eight out of ten that the Florida Keys, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale will be hit. Exactly where surface oil will spread in upcoming months can’t be known for sure, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To make its estimates, NOAA scientists factor in historical wind and ocean current
Data from the first survey of graduates of the 15-year-old ACE Mentor Program of America, a non-profit organization that introduces high-school students to architecture, construction and engineering, indicates that more than 65% of ACE alumni are pursuing design and construction majors. Of them, 37.7% are studying engineering, 22.4% are studying architecture, 5.3% are studying construction and 1.4% are learning a skilled trade. Survey results indicate 97% of ACE alumni graduate from high school, compared to 73.4% of students nationwide. The data also indicates 94% attend college, compared to 68% nationally. According to the survey, female ACE participants enter college engineering
Call them Millennials, Generation Y or Generation Next—all these names are used—but demographers interviewed by ENR and many Millennials themselves agreed the names all try to classify a distinctive group of Americans born after about 1980 who are part of a wave that continues today. Each year, this rising generation of construction professionals and craftspeople gets more relevant not only because of its growing numbers in the workforce but because of the singular qualities it brings. One key quality of Millennials is that they are digital natives—they barely remember the era before computers. Millennials told ENR they want two things
