Over 3100 tradeswomen and construction industry leaders convened last weekend to advance career paths and strengthen union tradeswomen’s future.

WASHINGTON, DC – Friday, Nov. 4, 2022 – North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) successfully concluded its 12th international Tradeswomen Build Nations conference, the largest gathering of its kind in the world. More than 3100 tradeswomen representing 48 states and ten provinces gathered in Las Vegas to share experiences and best practices with fellow tradeswomen, to learn about new programs and opportunities in the industry, and to engage with top leaders from government, industry and the biggest fifteen international building trades unions.

The three-day conference, held over the weekend, featured two formal plenary sessions, a banner parade on the Las Vegas strip, and over a dozen workshops on a range of topics addressing unique and critical issues of tradeswomen in the workforce.

“The impact of TWBN and its exponential growth are phenomenal,” said NABTU President Sean McGarvey. “There is nowhere on the planet where more building trades members gather each year than at this conference, and this year, almost every General President in the Building Trades attended. Trailblazing tradeswomen among our ranks are leading the future of our industry, and NABTU is committed to empowering them as we increase opportunities for and retention rates of women in unionized trade careers. Every day, inspiring tradeswomen advance and recruit more women into the family-sustaining unionized construction careers our affiliates provide. This conference is a celebration of these sisters and a testament to the growth of tradeswomen in our ranks.”

Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Vince Saavedra, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, and U.S. Representatives Susie Lee (NV-O3) and Dina Titus (NV-01) kicked off the conference on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, tradeswomen introduced keynotes with inspiring stories about their career paths and the challenges and phenomenal progress for women in the trades.

The plenaries included additional insightful and powerful keynote speeches by NABTU President Sean McGarvey, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Ørsted U.S. Labor Relations Manager Allison Ziogas, Las Vegas Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan, AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler, IUBAC International President Tim Driscoll, U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau Director Wendy Chun-Hoon, NABTU Special Assistant to the President Melissa Wells, Tradeswomen Committee Chairwoman and Ironworker Diversity Director, Vicki O’Leary and Boilermaker’s National Coordinator of Women in the Trades Initiatives, Erica Stewart.

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About NABTU: North America’s Building Trades Unions is an alliance of 14 national and international unions in the building and construction industry that collectively represent over 3 million skilled craft professionals in the United States and Canada.  Each year, our unions and signatory contractor partners invest almost $2 billion in private-sector money to fund and operate over 1,900 apprenticeship training and education facilities across North America that produce the safest, most highly trained, and productive skilled craft workers found anywhere in the world.  NABTU is dedicated to creating economic security and employment opportunities for its construction workers by safeguarding wage and benefits standards, promoting responsible private capital investments, investing in renowned apprenticeship and training, and creating more construction career pathways to the middle class for women, communities of color, indigenous people, veterans, and the justice-involved. For more information, please visit nabtu.org.

Media Contacts:
Betsy Barrett, NABTU (US) | bbarrett@buildingtrades.org| 202-997-3266
Kate Walsh | CBTU (Canada) | kwalsh@buildingtrades.ca | 613-298-0652