Starting January 1, a minimum of 12 weeks of paid maternity leave will be available to members of the Workers’ International Union of North America, the general president of the Workers’ International Union of North America , Brent Booker, announced Sept. 28 at the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference in New Orleans.
“We’re looking to the future and we want all members, including women, to know that we value them,” she said, pointing to the $800-a-week benefit.
With the construction labor shortage a continuing source of concern for the industry, the union’s new policy is “an effort to bring more women into LIUNA and improve the lives of those we already have,” she said Booker at the annual trader event the union said had more. 5,000 participants, including more than 600 of its members from 33 states.
In 2017, the Ironworkers became the first construction union to announce a maternity benefits policy, offering six months of paid leave and six weeks of postpartum leave, or eight weeks for C-section births, up to $800 a week after meeting certain requirements.
In 2018, the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, part of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, launched its own comparable policy. Prior to its enactment, paid pregnancy and maternity leave was the most cited obstacle to recruitment and retention in the industry according to the council’s survey of its female members.
