Women members throughout the U.S. and Canada play a key role in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters’ (UBC) success—in recruitment and mentoring, skills training, leadership development, political action and community involvement.

Many UBC regional councils include Sisters in the Brotherhood (SIB) committees that support women members and coordinate activities to advance council goals. These committees welcome involvement from all members.

The UBC International Sisters in the Brotherhood Committee (ISIB) helps to facilitate networking among all regional council SIB committees. The ISIB includes one representative from each UBC District:

Canadian: Rebecca McDonald

Eastern: Sinade Wadsworth 

Midwestern: Barb Pecks 

Southern: Shanta Prude 

Western: Amber McCoy 

This year the ISIB is coordinating plans for the August 2022 SIB conference.

UBC General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Flynn facilitates regular meetings of both the ISIB and of regional council SIB committee chairs, which have taken place online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meetings include news and information about UBC priorities, and education to help SIB committees better support women members.

 The Carpenters Union’s Sisters in the Brotherhood conference in 2018 brought some 500 members to the union’s International Training Center in Las Vegas.

 

A Summer Conference with Sisters in the Brotherhood!

August 4 – 7, 2022

International Training Center, Las Vegas

 The UBC’s popular conference for Sisters is back!

Hundreds of members are expected to attend and slots are being allocated to each UBC regional council based on the number of female members within the council. As with all programs at the ITC, vaccination against COVID-19 is required for attendance, and a dress code and code of conduct apply at the conference.

 All-Canada SIB Conference Was a First

The UBC Canadian District recently hosted its first-ever virtual Sisters in the Brotherhood conference, themed Empower Change. Over 150 members and staff participated in the two-day event.

Canadian SIB members took part in the Leadership Panel, speaking of their own journeys into leadership and offering advice for apprentices. The Activism and Union Empowerment Panel included SIB members speaking on the importance of attending union meetings and local union activities. The first woman in the UBC to hold the position of executive secretary-treasurer, Deb Romero, shared strategies on recruitment practices in the Atlantic Canada Regional Council.

Other presenters included representatives from the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum and the Office to Advance Women Apprentices.

 “The new Quebec Regional Council SIB Committee is a good idea; it will open doors."

Eugénielle Doucet

Apprentice Carpenter

Local 761, Anjou, QC