Tradeswomen Build Nations 2022

Annually in October, NABTU (North America’s Building Trades Unions) hosts a conference for all Union Tradeswomen and their allies. It’s been three years since this event was hosted in person, and attendance at this year’s conference in Las Vegas was record-breaking! Thirteen members of Local 1, joined 65 other members of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers for a weekend of empowerment, leadership training, and comradery with 3300 union sisters from trades across the US and Canada.  

Oftentimes, women in the trades are alone on jobsites, especially in our union. This opportunity to see the vast number of women in the construction industry, network with women in their respective trades from across the country, and meet sisters from our local for the first time, provides them with the knowledge that they are not alone. Mentorship matters in our industry, and while they all have their favorite tradesmen who have taken them under their wing and continue to pass their knowledge and experience on, there are just some things that only a sister in the trade will understand and this is something that is key to retaining our female members.