Governor Maura Healey signed an executive order at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 training center directing state agencies to expand access to construction careers for women and historically underrepresented groups and to track workforce participation on public projects.

Healey said the order will require agencies to use apprenticeships (like the Building Pathways program at Local 17), strengthen safety and anti‑harassment training, and provide supportive services such as childcare so more workers can stay in the trades. “I’m gonna sign an executive order,” Healey said at the event, adding that the measure will help ensure public projects create broader access to union jobs.

Why it matters: the order creates a formal, statewide mechanism to align hiring and contracting practices with workforce‑equity goals on major public construction work. Healey said the administration has brought home more than $9 billion in federal funding in recent years and that the state will partner with labor and contractors to turn that investment into family‑supporting careers.

Key details provided at the event included the creation of an Access and Opportunity Committee at the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAM). Healey said projects with a construction cost over $35,000,000 will be monitored by that committee and projects over $10,000,000 will be invited into the program. The order will also direct agencies to collect and report data on the demographics of the workforce and contractors’ compliance with participation goals.

Union leaders and apprentices framed the order as a continuation of ongoing efforts to recruit and retain women in the trades. Shemaya Turner, introduced as a Local 17 member who entered the trade through Building Pathways in 2012, described the program as transformational and said the industry has grown more inclusive: “Little did I know... I was able to finally fulfill my dream by graduating from the building pathways for apprenticeship program,” Turner said, recalling early barriers to entry.

Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL‑CIO, called project labor agreements a best practice for ensuring diversity on public projects and said the executive order will help agencies set and enforce workforce participation goals. “A woman can do any job that a man can do,” Lynch said.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who attended the event, framed the push as both an equity measure and an economic necessity. Raimondo said manufacturers are signaling a labor shortage and that expanding the pool of trained workers — including women — is essential to attracting and staffing new factories. “This isn’t a social program. This is about economics,” she said.

Officials said the executive order also will establish interagency coordination on workforce equity and require agencies and contractors to report on hiring and apprenticeship outcomes so progress can be tracked. Healey and the visiting officials then moved to sign the order at the training center.

Next steps: Healey said DCAM will stand up the Access and Opportunity Committee beginning in February and monitor large projects under the committee’s charter; agencies will begin collecting and reporting workforce demographic data as directed in the order.