Feature FIFTEEN WOMEN
Feature FIFTEEN WOMEN CLIMBED aboard the heavy equipment at the Operating Engineers 324 Construction Career Center, eager to try their hand at one of Michigan’s most crucial and skilled construction professions. The group of women were completing week four of a seven-week course called Project: Accelerate! The cutting-edge program is aimed at helping women explore careers in construction by providing seven, eighthour sessions in different skill areas. Project: Accelerate! Alternate pathway helps women enter and succeed in the skilled trades For their fourth week, Operating Engineers 324 provided the opportunity for participants to gain hands-on experience with the heavy machinery that operators use every day to build Michigan’s roads and bridges at their The construction industry brings women the closest to parity in earning potential. Howell training facility. These tools included cranes, excavators and other heavy equipment. The Howell facility is a 555-acre, world-class training site with modern and technical classroom facilities. “The demand for highly-skilled workers in Michigan is high and growing,” said Lee Graham, Director of Labor-Management for Operating Engineers 324. “The Operating Engineers are proud to help encourage and train the next generation of female operators, and provide opportunities for women across Michigan interested in the building trades to get their start.” [right] Women participating in Project: Accelerate! visit the Operating Engineers 324 training site to gain hands-on experience with the tools of the trade. 16 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER SUMMER 2017 17
