From the Desk of Troy Garland,
Prevent Harassment and Discrimination
There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding Harassment and Discrimination. The State Building and Construction Trades Council sponsored legislation for new prevention of harassment and discrimination requirements for California Building Trades Apprenticeship Programs. Assembly Bill 2358 was adopted unanimously by the California Legislature.
While there are many requirements to the Bill, I thought I would go over some of the key components that have already been implemented or will be coming soon.
Our Apprenticeship Programs have always had a policy against discrimination for any protected characteristic (e.g. race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, etc.) However; our Training Centers must now have this information posted. Both our joint apprenticeships have contracted a third- party organization named Ethical Advocate, which is used to ensure apprentices can report harassment or discrimination. There are flyers available with information for an anonymous incident report. This can be done on their website or by calling a hotline. This confidential service is free and always available.
All our apprentices and JATC staff are also required to take training in the prevention of harassment and discrimination. This training must include participation by the trainees, such as in-person or interactive on-line training.
This training is not limited to apprentices. Senate Bill 1343 also requires Journeyperson to take this course if they work for an employee with at-least five employees. Since most our employers meet this threshold, all our journeypersons must complete the training.
BAC Local 3 and our Signatory contractors have agreed to use our Apprenticeship programs as the vehicle for this training and our Labor Management Committees as the funding source. We will be using an on-line training course called “Workplace Harassment: The Real Deal.” We will be sending Information on the training and how to sign up for the video.
We held our General Meeting on Saturday, November 2nd in Oakland; it was the largest turn out ever. New BAC hats were given to all members. We handed out BAC PACT awards and 8 Safety Hoodies to members who completed their (ACT), Advanced Certification Tile Module. We thank these members for taking the time to better their skills and encourage all our tile setters and finishers to participate in journeyperson upgrade training. At the conclusion of the meeting there was a timely discussion regarding harassment on the jobsite. There were comments about mentoring our apprentices and having respect for our older members on the jobsite. There were many other remarks made regarding this issue, but the common theme was “mutual respect.” Mutual respect should be given to your fellow members, regardless of whether you are an apprentice or a member about to retire.
Please join us for our 21st Annual Sullivan-Kraw Crab Feed on January 25th, 2020. The event continues to grow with nearly 500 in attendance last year. There will be great food and a huge raffle. This is our only BAC Local 3 Scholarship Fund Raiser. Last year we awarded over $30,000 in scholarships to BAC Families.