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April 7, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Paid maternity leave for Iron Workers
New policy aimed at bringing
more women into construction
industry
Contractors signatory to Iron
Workers union locals will start
providing paid maternity leave
for women in their trade. The
announcement was made last
month at the Ironworker Man-
agement Progressive Action Co-
operative Trust (IMPACT) con-
ference in San Diego.
“We are very proud to be the
first to introduce a paid mater-
nity program in the building
trades,” said Iron Workers Gen-
eral President Eric Dean. “It’s
about time we make our indus-
try a level playing field for
women and make diversity and
inclusion a priority.”
The Iron Workers’ paid ma-
ternity leave includes 6 months
of pre-delivery maximum bene-
fit and 6 to 8 weeks of post-de-
livery benefit. Regardless of
what was covered pre-delivery,
the ironworker member will be
eligible for up to six weeks of
paid leave after the birth of the
child and two additional weeks
for Cesarean deliveries.
“I’m extremely excited about
this policy and I think it’s going
to help with retention of iron-
worker women and encourage
them to build a career,” said
Vicki O’Leary, an Ironworker
representative who made the an-
nouncement during a panel dis-
cussion at the IMPACT confer-
ence that focused on the role of
women ironworkers.
“It’s one more step in achiev-
ing greater diversity in our
trade,” she said.
Bill Brown, CEO of Ben Hur
Construction Co. and co-chair
of IMPACT, said when the
group first started talking about
maternity leave, he wasn’t sure
how they would pull it off and
what it would cost.
“We are very proud to
be the first to introduce
a paid maternity
program in the
building trades.”
— Iron Workers
General President Eric Dean
“But we realized that it’s an
investment because we want our
well-trained ironworker women
to come back to work,” he said,
It is a laudable move consid-
ering that the U.S. lags behind
its European counterparts when
it comes to paid maternity leave,
and most industries in the coun-
try do not offer adequate paid
maternity leave.
“It’s a relief to know that fe-
male ironworkers don’t have to
choose between work and fam-
ily anymore,” said Blue Coble
an ironworker from Local 75 in
Phoenix, Arizona.
IMPACT is a labor-manage-
ment partnership that provides a
forum for union Ironworkers
and signatory contractors to ad-
dress issues of mutual concern.
The Iron Workers Union rep-
resents 130,000 workers in
North America employed in
construction on bridges; struc-
tural steel; ornamental, architec-
tural, and miscellaneous metals;
rebar; and in shops.
In Oregon, union ironworkers
are represented by Portland Lo-
cal 29 and Iron Workers Shop-
men’s Local 516.
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