Special Assistant to the President of North America's Building Trades Unions, Melissa Wells, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss her work with the trades, the growth she’s seen since joining with NABTU and the upcoming Tradeswomen Build Nations Conference.
Before joining NABTU, Wells was part of the Baltimore/DC Building and Construction Trades Council. Wells also serves as a representative for the Maryland House of Delegates in the 40th District. Wells prides herself on being able to represent the people in the 40th District and being able to connect workers with a better future through the trades. Wells’ work includes helping people avoid several predatory practices that target in the lower and working class, which she said is how she connected with the trades.
In her experience, the message about the trades being the best path to the middle class is getting through to the public. For example, the growth of accredited pre-apprenticeship programs is one of the best examples, as there are over 200 programs nationwide. These programs have been assisting the trades in many of these areas to fill the workforce needs created by the federal funding from the Infrastructure and CHIPS and Science Acts.
The Tradeswomen Build Nations Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., from Dec. 1-3, the nation’s largest annual gathering of women in construction. According to Wells, this year's conference is projected to be the largest attendance ever. This also will be the first conference after the focused efforts nationally to bring in more diverse members into the trades, especially women. Wells provided detailed information about some of the workshops and events that will take place at the conference. For more information on this year's conference, please visit NABTU.org/TWBN.
For more information from Wells on the conference, listen to the show above.