Vicki O’Leary, Iron Workers (IW) general organiser for safety and diversity wins the title of ENR’s 2018 top 25 newsmaker. The honour is in recognition of her ground breaking work through the organisation’s initiatives to level the playing field for ironworker women and her thought leadership in the building trades.
IW General President Eric Dean brought Vicki on board to spearhead diversity initiatives in 2016. “Vicki is passionate about changing the culture to ensure ironworker women are on an equal footing,” says the IW General President Eric Dean. “She’s a dynamic individual who gets things done.”
Vicki took the lead in launching several groundbreaking IW initiatives to expand diversity. One is a paid maternity leave programme, the first of its kind in the building trades. But Vicki did not stop there. She worked with the leadership to rollout the “Be That One Guy” programme to fight workplace harassment that threatens safety and productivity. “It is a safety issue” says Vicki. “Workplace harassment is a dangerous distraction and in our line of work, you can’t afford to be distracted. When ironworkers are distracted from their work full of potential hazards, it could lead to accidents.”
The programme enlists male workers to take a stand against bullying and harassment of any kind. “We want them to not be afraid to speak up and tell a bully to knock it off,” says Vicki.
Vicki is also the chairwoman of the North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) Tradeswomen’s Committee. Through her leadership, NABTU‘s Women Building Nations conference has become the premier event in the industry for education and support for tradeswomen. Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT) is a partnership designed to identify and expand work opportunities for ironworkers and their employers.
