United Tradeswomen (New York, N.Y.)

United Tradeswomen was founded by women working in the construction industry in New York City to promote the training and employment of women, and to combat discrimination in employment and in the workplace. United Tradeswomen was founded in 1979 as an outgrowth of activity surrounding the entrance of women into the construction trades in New York City. Overt resistance to the entrance of women, persistent discrimination in hiring, and the on-going need for support for those women in the trades, prompted several women to organize the group. The initial function of UT was to lobby the electricians and carpenters unions to recruit women into their apprenticeship programs. The initiative for this action was taken by Mary Garvin, a carpenter who came to New York City from California with the express purpose of getting women into the trades. Garvin was instrumental in developing the Women in Apprenticeship Agency Project (WAP) and in securing public funding for its operation. WAP recruited women and then enrolled them in training programs to provide them with the skills necessary to secure employment in the building trades. However, beyond training and recruitment, the need remained for attention to a broader and more diverse goal. Mary Garvin, Lois Ross, and Irene Soloway, as well as several other women, organized United Tradeswomen to fulfill this broader mission. Between 1979 and 1984, UT brought pressure to bear on regulatory agencies, employers, contractors, unions and apprentice programs. It worked with coalitions in the City to pursue equal employment for women and minorities, engaging in concerted activity with groups such as Harlem Fight Back and ALL-Craft. It provided a network of support for women, and conducted educational forums on issues such as sexual harassment, race discrimination, and trade union issues. UT carried on correspondence and lobbying, mounted picket lines and held public "Speak Outs" in its campaign to achieve the maximum equality guaranteed by the law. The structure of the organization was democratic and participatory, with a commitment to consensus decision-making. Division of labor was allocated to committees with responsibility for tasks such as outreach, publicity, fund raising and programming. Responsibility for setting priorities and maintaining momentum rested with the core group of leaders. Despite its commitment to broad-based decision making and shared leadership, personality clashes and diverging political opinions generated divisions within the organization. In addition, the stress and "burn out" attendant upon the lives of women in the trades, ultimately led to the demise of the organization. In spite of its disintegration, the trades women who pioneered the entrance of females into the construction industry in New York City almost unanimously acknowledge the contribution made to their efforts by United Tradeswomen. The confluence between the Women's Movement and the movement into new areas of employment for that generation of women produced a vitality and purposefulness that resulted in real economic gains for that small percentage of women who penetrated the male bastion of the construction trades.