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May 15 Women Building California Conference Deadlines
Two important items about the upcoming Women Building California conference
1. Deadlines for early-bird registration (April 10) and group rate at Oakland Marriott (April 20)coming up fast
The 9th Annual Women Building California conference will be on May 15-16 at the Oakland Marriott. The conference is guaranteed to inspire participants to advocate for the building trades and to take more responsibility—on the job and in their unions.
The conference registration fee is $80 for general pre-registration ($65 if paid before April 10), and $95 at the door—but please note that participants from SBCTC-affiliated unions get a $10 discount. That fee includes continental breakfast, lunch and a reception on Saturday, and breakfast and a snack on Sunday.
The Marriott has plenty of rooms left for Friday and Saturday night at the rate of $140/night plus tax, but you must book by Tuesday, April 20 to get this rate. Call 1-800-228-9290 and give the group name “Women Building California Conference.”
Contact the State Building Trades at 916-443-3302 for more information. The brochure is on-line at www.sbctc.org.
2. Share your expertise as a workshop panelist
We have a few workshops that need a few additional "experts" --- and that could be you! In all cases, we already have a couple of knowledgeable people signed up to be on the panel, so you wouldn't be expected to carry all of the weight. We just know that there are women out there who are active and involved, and we want to get you even more involved! Here are some of the workshops that need help---
1. Unions 101 -- This one is designed to help women become more effective members of their unions. We want to talk about how unions are structured (from local to national), how the money works (health and welfare, pension, and apprenticeship trusts), and how meetings are run.
2. Gay in the Trades -- It’s often hard just being female on the construction worksite—is it even harder being lesbian? This is an opportunity to for women to talk about their experiences in the trades as lesbians. When do you come out to co-workers? What about fighting harassment and homophobia? And what about getting benefits for your partner? In this workshop, everybody's their own expert, so what we're particularly looking for is a woman of color to serve as a co-discussion leader.
3. Become a union contractor -- If you're a union contractor or you know someone who is, who might be interested in presenting, we want to know! We know that you can take classes on this that last from 3 days to 3 months, so this workshop is a brief overview of what it takes to get started, what you need to do to get licensed and bonded, set up payroll, and hire staff. What hurdles did you have to overcome, and what it’s like being an owner instead of an employee?
4. Social Networking—using facebook and twitter -- Some folks will need to know how and why to use facebook and twitter; others will want to know about how to use social media sites for organizing, activism and connecting. We've got a great expert on this, but she'd love someone to present with to make the workshop fun and interactive.
5. Stretching: A morning wakeup -- On Sunday morning, after an evening of partying and networking, most folks will go to their caucuses by trade, but others may want to do some stretching. We're looking for one or two people to lead a one-hour basic body movement class.
If any of these workshops sound like they're right up your alley, please step up! We only need one or two more folks for each workshop, and we do want to make sure that our presenters are diverse -- by race, age and craft, and we don't want anybody presenting on more than one workshop. If you'd like to share your expertise, contact Debra Chaplan at 510-832-6450 or dchaplan@mindspring.com.