The new director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) Arlene Dunn says she understands the symbolic impact of becoming one of the most high-profile women in Canadian construction, but more important is that she get on with the work of producing the recruiting results the sector desperately needs.
Given the need for 260,000 new skilled workers in the next decade to replace retirees, the recruitment file is at the top of the agenda for the New Brunswicker.
Dunn, deputy director of the CBTU for three years, comes into the national job with statistical proof that the strategies to recruit women into the construction sector she helped usher in as executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Building and Construction Trades Council and as executive director of the Hebron Project Employers’ Association are effective. The recent BuildForce Canada construction employment forecast highlighted that province as leading the pack nationally, with Dunn noting there are 13 per cent women employed in the field there while other provinces lag in the single digits.
“I know how to do it, I know how to do it right,” said Dunn. “It won’t be lip service, it is going to happen. There are practical measures you can put in place, tested and true, that will get us where we need to go to.”
In introducing Dunn as the new CBTU director, replacing Bob Blakely effective March 4, North America’s Building Trades Unions president Sean McGarvey recognized her 30 years of accomplishments. He claimed in a statement she becomes the “highest-ranking female in not only the unionized sector but in all of construction world-wide.”
Dunn attributes her ascension to the Building Trades top job to assistance and mentorship from colleagues as well as just plain hard work. Following her graduation from university in 1988 she was accepted into law school but after initial exposure to the trade union movement she was hooked. She started from the bottom, she said, taking on every job there was.
A stepping stone was when she was assigned to a New Brunswick local that had fallen on hard times and was down to 700 members. She rebuilt it back to 3,500 members by working with local contractors to let them know they had a trusted supply of labour, she said.
In those early days there was just a handful of other women but Dunn did not feel that was a handicap, in that the vast majority of her male colleagues supported her as a talented organizer who could get the job done.
“I think it is a testament to the fact that I work in a very good industry,” she said. “The perception is that is it difficult for women to break into the trades and move up in the trades but I am a testament to the fact that it can be done, though it does take hard work.
“The message now is, underrepresented groups, there is a place at the table for you, we are making a place at the table and there are people who support that endeavour.”
Dunn said her stint working with employers on the Hebron project gave her additional insights into the needs of the broader sector.
“I think we can be partners,” she said. “It’s important for me to understand what the owners and contractors see as well. I took that opportunity and I am really glad I did. I learned what’s important to contractors, things like cost, safety, performance, labour supply, all the things that are important to grow our industry.”
Two other priorities for the new CBTU director are getting trades training back into high schools and promoting the union movement as a progressive force that provides good jobs and fights for social justice and a better way of life.
“We made a mistake with what we’ve done with the trades, taking them out of the schools,” said Dunn. “There are lots of great jobs in the skilled trades, if we could get in there and deliver that message early on, then they know those opportunities exist.”
As for promoting the trade union movement, Dunn said, “Everyone benefits from the things unions have done, even if they don’t understand it. Safety standards, hours and workweeks, holidays, pensions and health and welfare, raising the standard of living, all of those things are there because of the work unions have done, so I am going to try to educate people to build on that capacity.
“We invest $300 million in private sector funds into 175 training and apprenticeship education facilities across Canada.”
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