b'Staying Competitive Involves Achieving Workplace DiversityReprinted with permission of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine and the National Electrical Contractors Association of Bethesda, Md.This article originally appeared in the September 2019 issue of the ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine. Copyright 2019.By SUSAN DEGRANEO thesymbolofBlacktoentertheskilledtrades.Thegroupcompany Morrow-Meadows Corp., City of On May 20, 2020, a Black female apprentice plumber experienced an overwhelming senseimmediately brought the incident to light. Industry Calif., flew in a diversity specialist.of dread seeing a noose hanging at a construc- Withindays,businessagentsfromseveral tion site in downtown Portland, Ore. ThecontractorsandtheIBEWmembers unions,includingIBEW48,weretalkingmade additional efforts to restore workplace Shereportedseeingwith workers at the job site, where an olderharmony in the Portland area.oppressiontoherforemanandafore- propertywasbeingrenovatedforanew manforthesitesgeneralcontractor.Sheschool of public health to be managed byPortlands noose incident happened near the alsocontactedarepresentativefromherOregon Health and Science University andstart of the pandemic and just prior to the plumbers union. Portland State University. police killing of George Floyd. It was one of Three weeks passed with no action taken, soTheNorthwestLaborPressreportedthatalmost 50 incidents occurring at construction she reached out to Oregon Tradeswomen, aCherry City Electric, a woman-owned busi- sites and in office settings across the United Portland organization that prepares womenness enterprise in Salem, Ore., and its parentStates and Canada since 2015, according towww.ecao.org18'