Tradeswomen pitch non-traditional work to students

By BOB HULEN, Special Correspondent

With a healthy assist from the rest of organized labor, the annual Women in the Trades Fair for females interested in non-traditional occupations had its most successful stand last month. Actually, it was two stands.

For the first time, women flocked to a branch of Rogue Community College in Grants Pass to learn about job opportunities, primarily in the trades. The usual annual event was held at the Portland Metro Training Center of Electrical Workers Local 48 and the National Electrical Contractors Association.

The majority of exhibitors were unions or union employers and the majority of the annual service awards presented by the sponsoring Oregon Tradeswomen Network went to union members or union associates.

A record-setting turnout of about 250 visitors in Grants Pass and nearly 1,200 in Portland was estimated by a pleased union member Connie Ashbrook, director of the Oregon Tradeswomen. Some in attendance were men interested in finding a family-wage job.

Other Portland-area sponsors included the Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council; the Northwest Labor Press, and building, service trades and public employee unions and their employers.

Co-sponsors in Grants Pass included the Southern Oregon Labor Council.

A feature was the opportunity for visitors to participate in job-related activities and projects. For example, they were assisted by Carpenters in building wooden tool boxes.

Unions and their employers provided job and apprenticeship information along with such giveaways as yo-yos and marking pens. There were job demonstrations such as pipe work by women members of City of Portland Employees Local 189 who work for the Water Bureau. There were even rides with union workers on "cherry pickers" attached to electrical maintenance trucks.

Ashbrook said a factor in the fine turnout estimate was an additional day in Portland to accommodate increased high school and middle school participation.

Praise for the fair came from many sources, including Gail Thompson, a former member of Local 189 who now recruits for the municipality. "This is a good place to attract potential good, dedicated workers," she emphasized.

The enthusiastic involvement of organized labor in apprenticeship and job training was fascinating to Takashi Hiranuma, who is a professor of job preparation at Meiji University in Japan. He said that in his country training was the province of the company.

Hiranuma is studying at the University of Oregon in Eugene. His visit was arranged by the Labor Education and Research Center (LERC). His translator was Natalie Todd-Zabell, a Mt.Tabor Middle School seventh-grader in Portland. She has been studying Japanese for several years and is a daughter of Paul Zabell, a member of Electrical Workers LocaL 48 and an instructor at the Metro Training Center.

Hannah Oxford, a member of Tualatin-based Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, received the Trades Instructor of the Year award. Patti Klein, a member of Electrical Workers Local 125 for 19 years, was named Journey-level Tradeswoman of the Year.

Fourteen participants in the Women of the Housing Authority of Portland's Evening Trades Preparation Program shared the Student Tradeswoman of the Year award. Sponsors of that program include the Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters and Painters District Council 5. Jim Trapp, a former member of City Employees Local 189, is the coordinator.