Blue collar? Vote O’Dwyer and Letendre-Cahillane

On Tuesday in Northampton, I will be casting a vote for Will O’Dwyer, and if I lived in Ward 1, I would be voting for Niko Letendre-Cahillane. I’m a construction worker and proud union member. I’m one of the less than 3% of electricians who are women, and I am excited to support two candidates who made project labor agreements on city projects a core item in their platforms.

PLAs allow municipalities to invest in a workforce which has the power to collectively bargain. Collective bargaining is how working-class people win wages, benefits, and safe working conditions that let us live and retire in dignity. Importantly, PLAs allow cities to enshrine additional supports for their community within the agreement. For example, I am working on the new Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, where contractors are required to staff their crews to include local residents, veterans, women, and people of color. These protections may seem small — only 6.9% of the “man hours” are required to be provided by women – but they are extremely meaningful. The knowledge sharing and solidarity that develops on PLA jobs materially helps nontraditional workers stay in the trade. It also incentivizes apprenticeship programs to be more open to the breadth of their applicant pools.

PLAs are more important now than ever. The Trump administration is attacking regulations that protect women, people of color, and LGBT construction workers against discrimination. They are doing so through proposed Department of Labor rule 1205-AC21, which passed its public comment period earlier this month. You may have seen Trump’s Department of Labor advertising exactly what their vision of the trades is on X.com: an AI image of a blonde white man standing before oil derricks and cranes with the words “Build Your Homeland’s Future!” superimposed before him.

Councilors who advocate for quality PLAs point the way to a different future for Northampton: one in which our funds are invested in jobs and infrastructure which strengthen everyone in our community.
On Sept. 16, vote O’Dwyer and Letendre-Cahillane for a Northampton that works for blue collar workers!

Scarlett Morsmith

Northampton