Glaziers Local 513 apprentice takes national stage at Tradeswomen Build Nations conference

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Assistant Editor

Shay Jones, a Glazier Local 513 apprentice who recently graduated from the Missouri Works Initiative’s Building Union Diversity (BUD) program, took center stage at the 2023 Tradeswomen Build Nations conference in Washington D.C. sharing her story about how the program helped her land a career in the union building trades.

Jones previously managed a home health care office and often referred her employees seeking more stable employment to the BUD program, which she found out about online. Then Covid hit and she found herself out of a job.

“As a single mom in my 30s, I needed something with a quick turnaround that would be beneficial to my future and give me great joy in my daily life without having to get into any debt,” she said during the conference. “I’ve always had an affinity for physical work, and wondered if I could get into the BUD program.”

She was accepted into the six-week program and graduated in November 2022.

‘A TRADE I TRULY ENJOY’
“Fast forward a year later and not only have I chosen a trade I truly enjoy as a glazier, but I have gained an extended family with all the men and women I’ve come to know in this field,” she said at the conference. “It an entirely different experience to work with people who consider you family and love you unconditionally.”

Jones was invited to the convention and asked to speak about her experience at the conference after speaking last year in St. Louis at the North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) national multi-city road tour to demonstrate how union-trained workers are prepared to meet the moment after passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Glazier Local 513 is a union under the umbrella of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Painters District Council 58. After her speech at the Tradeswomen Build Nations Conference, she introduced James Williams, Jr., the international president of IUPAT, who is a glazier by trade.

‘PROUD OF HER’
“She did so well speaking at the St. Louis NABTU road tour, they recommended she speak at Tradeswomen Build Nations,” said Local 513 Business Manager John Deeken. “We’re really proud of her. She’s a young, spirited woman who is an asset in the field.”

The BUD program, created by the St. Louis Building Trades Council, is a six-week program created in 2014 as a recruitment tool to encourage more minorities and women to get into the union building trades. It provides pre-apprentices with the opportunity for a visit at participating local building trade unions to give them hands-on basic training and a feel for each of the trades.

Today, the award-winning program is run by the Missouri AFL-CIO’s Missouri Works Initiative and has been implemented across the state. It boasts a 92 percent graduation rate. Additionally, 83 percent of the program participants are minorities and 29 percent are women.

Jones said she kept an open mind during the program on which trade she wanted to pursue.

‘WORK INTRIGUES ME’
“The Glaziers apprenticeship program just felt right for me, and I fell in love with the craft,” Jones told the Labor Tribune. “The work, which is both physical and creative, intrigues me.”

Jones, the first female African American to be sworn into Local 513, is one of only two active women in the union. She works at IWR North America.

For more information about the BUD program, visit moworksinitiative.org.