NEW Archives - Construction & General Building Laborers' Local 79

Nontraditional Employment for Women Honors Local 79 Member

2014-06-20T14:00:09-04:00

At a June 5th luncheon attended by nearly a thousand people, Local 79 member Erika Glen Byam received one of Nontraditional Employment for Women’s (NEW) Equity Leadership Awards. For over 35 years, NEW has prepared, trained, and placed women in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. Local 79 has been a strong supporter of NEW, and Local 79 Business Manager Mike Prohaska was recently appointed to Board of Directors. Ana Taveras, herself a 1995 graduate of NEW, and currently the organizing coordinator for the Laborers’ Eastern Region Organizing Fund, introduced Erika and noted that Erika had just [...]

Mike Prohaska Joins Board of Nontraditional Employment for Women

Robert Tiburzi2014-06-20T14:01:23-04:00

On April 1st, 2014, Local 79 Business Manager Mike Prohaska was voted onto the Board of Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW). Founded in 1978, NEW, whose mission is to prepare women for skilled, unionized jobs in the trades, serves women from all five boroughs in New York City. Local 79 has many proud graduates of NEW who have gone on to complete the apprenticeship program and are, according to Local 79 Apprenticeship Coordinator Timmy Warrington, "consistently some of the best Laborers." Although women represent around 3% of the construction industry nationwide, 15% of the graduates of Local 79's apprenticeship program are women. "We are proud to see [...]