As another school year begins, laborers like Michaela Robinson took a bow inside a restored gem named after a workers’ champion.
The occasion was the official opening, one day before the start of the school year, of Troup School, the 26th in New Haven to be completely renovated or rebuilt under Mayor John DeStefano. Troup School served as a venue Wednesday afternoon to recognize the efforts of the workers who’ve been building the schools for the past dozen years. And what better venue than a school named for a feminist and labor activist, Augusta Lewis Troup.
Troup’s reopening coincides with the unveiling of a wall-sized photograph tribute (in front of which Robinson stood) to New Haven’s labor history. (Read all about that here.)
Nicole Jefferson (pictured), the director of the city’s Commission on Equal Opportunity, lauded the various training programs that have allowed the city to hire many women and minorities who are New Haven residents for various school construction projects.
“The schools have project labor agreements, and those project labor agreements have allowed us to put our people — our residents, our minorities, our women — on these jobs,” Jefferson said. “The numbers are unprecedented throughout the region. Other towns and cities and states are trying to mimic what we’re doing.”
Yale University, Yale-New Haven Hospital and other big employers in the city have adopted the same requirements for hiring minorities and women on construction sites, opening up union jobs to those who have long been underrepresented.
One of the trainees was Michaela Robinson (pictured at the top of the story), who’s worked as a laborer on a number of school projects. “I’m about to complete my apprenticeship and become a journeyman,” she said to enthusiastic applause. “I’ve done a lot of hard work and it hasn’t been easy, but I stuck with it. This is a career for me; it changed my life. I know I’m doing good, but it’s hard work every day.” She said she worked on a couple of school jobs and a couple of Yale jobs.
Trainees come through one of three programs: the Career Development School, the Construction Workforce Initiative or Youth Build. Pictured on the left is Carlos Soto, 19, of Youth Build, with Dennis Farmer, who, at 51, said he’s the oldest trainee. Both are on their way to becoming union painters.
Dave Moakley (pictured), representing the state’s building trades, said the workers being trained will join the biggest contingent of unionized building trades workers in the state. “Over 1,100 workers from the building trades unions now live in the city of New Haven, more than twice the amount in any other city in the state. Think of that – 1,100 construction workers, in high-paying careers, with benefits and pensions.”