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Second annual awards ceremony honors women in the trades

Photo of Women Building Success award winners.
Left to right:“Apprentice of the Year,” Laura Tracy, IBEW Local 110; “Journey Worker of the Year,” Katie LaPlant, Carpenters Local 322; “Advocate of the Year,” Tasha Lawrence, Plumbers Local 34.

As part of national “Women in Construction Week,”  women and men from local building trades unions gathered March 6 at Surly Brewing for the region’s second annual “Women Building Success” awards ceremony.

More than 40 nominations came in for “Apprentice of the Year” and “Journey Worker of the Year” and “Advocate of the Year.”

With Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” as a soundtrack, the program began with a slide-show featuring images from a photo contest organized last fall depicting women construction workers on the job or shots of their worksites.

The photo contest, the awards, the networking going on that evening before and after the program— all served to celebrate women in the construction trades and to build community.

“When you start in the trades, it can be hard,” said Jennifer Gaspersich, financial secretary for IBEW Local 292and the emcee of the evening. “Don’t back-stab each other,” she told the audience, relating a conflict she faced early in her career with another woman on a jobsite. “We need to be successful,” Gaspersich said, “and that means building each other up.”

Gaspersich announced the evening’s award-winners:

Some of the award-winners and other women trades workers told the Labor Review more about their work before entering the trades; Their backgrounds included working as an accountant, make-up artist, Home Depot worker, copy store manager, university administrator.

Why did they make the change to the building trades?

Left to right: Kaithlin Yang, Carpenters Local 322; Racheal Green, Carpenters Local 322; Luann Hoganson, IBEW Local 110. Green and Hoganson had just met, sharing hors d’oeuvres at a table. Green reported coming from her first experience working outside in the cold on a roof. Hoganson offered tips on staying warm: wear composite boots instead of steel-toed boots, wear light gloves inside a pair of warm mittens. You can take the mittens off when you need to, she explained, but then you’ll still keep your fingers warm.

I’m doing something I love,” said Racheal Green, Carpenters Local 322. “I’m a homeowner now,” she added. “It helped me give my son a better life.”

“I’m moving around all day, problem solving,” said Laura Tracy, IBEW Local 110. “I would recommend getting into the trades… I love going to work.”

As the evening concluded, IBEW Local 292’s Jennifer Gaspersich provided a send-off: “We hope that you can go out tomorrow on the job and do anything!”

Left to right: Alix Paularena, Carpenters Local 322, and Kyrsten Wagner, who said, “I’m not with the union — yet.” Paularena is six months into her first year as an apprentice. She worked previously as a make-up artist. “I joined the union because I wanted something more physical and because of the benefits — guaranteed pay raises, health insurance, pension, vacation,” she said. “You’re setting yourself up for success early on.”

Speakers also put in a plug for the Trades Women Build Nations conference which is coming to Minneapolis October 4-6, 2019. They also put out a call for volunteers for the conference. 

More pictures from the evening’s festivities can be found on our Facebook page.

For more information about the October conference, visit nabtu.org/wbn.

This article by Steve Share is reprinted from the Minneapolis Labor Review.

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