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WomenVenture and Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau Combine Efforts

21 October 1999

WomenVenture and Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau Combine Efforts to Recruit Women into Auto Industry

    ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 20 -- WomenVenture and the Minnesota
Teamsters Bureau have been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Department of
Labor, Women's Bureau to provide technical assistance to auto industry
employers to recruit and train women in auto repair industry jobs.
    The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) project
will combine expertise from both organizations to provide technical assistance
to the Greater Metropolitan Auto Dealership Association, Local Union No. 974,
and ten individual auto dealerships in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St.
Paul, Minn.
    "We have many years of experience assisting employers and unions to
increase the number of women employed and retained in nontraditional fields.
Combining our efforts with the Teamsters Service Bureau and auto dealership
association will open up grant opportunities to women," said Karla Melvin,
WomenVenture Director of Employment Services.  "Women have multiple barriers
to entering and remaining in nontraditional employment. This program's
distinguishing feature is its focus on sustainable strategies for including
and advancing women in the workplace."
    Minnesota lags behind other states in getting women into apprenticeships
or nontraditional occupations. Of the 2,168 entrants to apprenticeships in
Minnesota in 1998, only 4.6 percent (99) were women, the national average is
8%. The WANTO project creates an opportunity for Minnesota women to obtain
economic self-sufficiency for themselves and their families. The technical
assistance provided is designed to include outreach, recruitment, workplace
enhancements, mentoring, apprenticeships, and support services.
    "The current labor shortages in the Twin Cities' auto repair industry
means that women are now being considered for jobs that not long ago were
filled exclusively by men," said Jean Dunn, Executive Director of the
Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau. "The Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau
has engineered successful workplace transitions for thousands of workers
across the state. In partnership with WomenVenture, we are eager to work with
Teamster companies and union officials to help women workers thrive in the
auto repair industry."
    WomenVenture is a leading Twin Cities non-profit organization which has a
long history of helping women move toward economic self-sufficiency. Since
1978, the organization has helped more than 50,000 individuals move closer to
their job, career, and business goals. WomenVenture is a driving force to
advocate for policies that change workplace cultures and working practices in
nontraditional occupations and has the only comprehensive construction and
printing employment programs for women in the upper Midwest.