Jermaine’s On The Job

Jermaine Mayo tried for a year to get into the local carpenters union. Then he found a shortcut that landed him a spot in just 12 weeks.

That shortcut was the city Commission on Equal Opportunities’ (CEO) Career Development School. It’s a free building-trades training program that fast-tracks students into union positions.

Mayo (pictured) completed the course in April and has been working at the under-construction Roberto Clemente school on Columbus Avenue ever since.

Mayo said he now has more than just a job, he’s got a career.

The apprentice carpenter took a break from his work on Monday to tell the mayor and other officials about his experience. He was one of several speakers at an afternoon ceremony marking the beginning of application acceptance for the Commission on Equal Opportunities’ (CEO) next training program.

Mayor John DeStefano (pictured) took the opportunity to tout workforce statistics showing that New Haven is training and hiring large percentages of locals, minorities, and women on city building projects.

The site of the event — at Roberto Clemente School — was significant, given a recent demonstration there. Activists — including former Mayor John Daniels—protested at the job site in October. They said African-American workers were underrepresented on city construction projects.

DeStefano said on Monday that minority workers are responsible for 30 percent of hours worked on New Haven building projects. Residents make up 25 percent and women 8 percent.

At Roberto Clemente, the numbers are even higher. Residents like Mayo make up 35 percent of workers. Minority workers make up 46 percent of the workforce. That number comprises half black and half Latino, said Nichole Jefferson, executive director of the CEO.

Mayo told the assembled workers and officials that with the CEO’s help, he had overcome a ​“not-so good past” to land his current job as a union carpenter. ​“It’s a good thing. A real good thing,” he said.

Mayo, who lives in Fair Haven, later explained that for a year he had looked for a way into the carpenter’s union. ​“I tried my hardest to get into the union,” he said. ​“I tried all different angles … but it was so backed up.”

Then, last January, Mayo enrolled in the CEO’s Carreer Development School. In 12 weeks, the course trained him to be a carpenter and found him a spot in the Connecticut Carpenters Local 24 union and a job helping to build the Roberto Clemente School.

“It’s a career. It’s not a just a job,” Mayo said. Now he doesn’t have to settle for working at Walmart, Mayo said. He gets retirement benefits and medical care as a union member, plus job security. ​“Lots of people settle for less,” he said.

Now that he’s in the union, Mayo said he can plan to buy a house and ​“maybe pass your trade onto your family.” He said he wants to work his way up from apprentice to journeyman carpenter and retire after 30 years.

Mayo, who’s 29, said he had gotten into trouble with the law when he was a teenager, but the CEO ​“didn’t use that to hold against me.”

Jefferson said that the CEO runs Career Development School programs in plumbing, electrical, carpentry, painting, and laboring. A new one — cement — is about to start up.

She said that training and placement of local workers creates a win-win situation for New Haven. Locals get jobs, and money stays in the city.

“The numbers tell the story,” Jefferson said. ​“Residents made close to a million dollars in the last seven or eight months” working on local building projects. Those paychecks were likely spent in the city.

Karl Clarke, a 50-year-old laborer at Roberto Clemente, said he has seen the number of women on job sites increase over the 16 years he’s been doing construction work. He said it’s nice to have women on the job.

Tasha Wormley (pictured behind the mayor in photo above), a carpenter, said she feels no different from the guys she works with.

“I feel the same as everybody else,” she said. ​“Cold, mostly.”