Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff

As Massachusetts officials compete for billions of federal infrastructure dollars that will unlock major job opportunities in the construction sector, labor union leaders implored state agencies on Nov. 1 to comply with workforce participation laws designed to support women and people of color.

Many state agencies and municipalities remain unaware of state goals that women and minorities are supposed to be working a certain percentage of hours on construction projects, said Chrissy Lynch, the newly installed president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, during a legislative briefing.

The goals are outlined in a 2009 bulletin from the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, and other state laws have also aimed to address workforce participation goals in state contracts, according to the Policy Group on Tradeswomen’s Issues, which represents different stakeholders in the construction industry and looks to remove barriers to women seeking construction jobs.

“Accountability at all levels of government is really important and critical for these laws and this executive order to actually work as intended,” Lynch said. “The workforce participation goals are even more critical since most federal funding for infrastructure projects does require a state funding match, thus triggering the workforce participation goals.”

She added, “The Massachusetts AFL-CIO and all of our building trades partners are committed to working with our partners in government to make sure that we open these doors of opportunity to women and to people of color for these incredible careers in our unions.”

Officials estimate Massachusetts is eligible for more than $17 billion in aid through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Quentin Palfrey, the Healey administration’s director of federal funds and infrastructure, pledged that equity, labor and workforce, and climate goals will stay top priorities to ensure that “everyone” in the state economy benefits from the infusion of federal resources. Applications for the competitive federal grants will address the state’s labor standards for women and people of color, Palfrey said.

“We have to hold ourselves to account for making sure that that actually follows through when we get these grants,” Palfrey said. “We need to make sure that our values are reflected in how we implement these multi-billion-dollar programs and these programs all across Massachusetts.”

An audit last year by former Auditor Suzanne Bump found the state agency responsible for managing construction and real estate projects lacked policies to monitor whether workforce participation goals were being reached.

The audit found that 120 out of 127 construction contracts analyzed in 2019-2020 failed to meet the women’s participation goal that 6.9 percent of working hours should be done by women. In nearly 80 contracts, no working hours were logged by women, according to the audit of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance.

About 80 of the contracts also didn’t meet minority goals that 15.3 percent of hours worked should be completed by minorities. In 36 contracts, the audit found minorities didn’t work any hours.

“We must do better, and we can do better,” Rep. Vanna Howard said at the briefing, hosted by the Caucus of Women Legislators, the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and the House Asian Caucus.

Contina Brooks, an operating engineer from Springfield, urged more contractors and state agencies to follow diversity goals.

“It can be quite unsettling and unbearable to be the only woman, the only Black woman, the only Black person on a job,” Brooks said. “I know for sure that there are women and other people of color out there that want a career in the building trades. However, we do not have enough pressure – no one is applying enough pressure to get these jobs done and to see that these diversity goals are a success across the board.”

Contractors who accept but then do not adhere to the state’s workforce participation goals can be fined under state law. That enforcement mechanism cannot be deployed unless state agencies are aware of the goals and specifically include them within contracts, according to Karen Courtney, executive director of the Foundation for Fair Contracting.

The historic lack of enforcement has hampered the likelihood of women securing opportunities in the construction industry, said Jenaya Nelson, a longtime member of Laborers Local 223 and co-chair of Women Build Boston.

Last week’s briefing follows the second annual Women Build Boston conference, which featured networking opportunities over the weekend for hundreds of female union trade workers from across Massachusetts, Nelson said. Some participants also traveled from New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island to attend the event.

The goal of the conference was to empower women through various group sessions, which covered topics like leadership and financial literacy, and to provide a space to discuss issues like child care, Nelson said. When she started her job as a laborer in 1998, Nelson recalled she was typically the only female on a crew.

“There were maybe a handful of us but there weren’t that many,” Nelson said. “The dynamics of being able to speak to other women and ask other women for advice was very slim.”