Carpenters Union Launches Paid Maternity Leave Benefit

Recently, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters (NCSRCC) announced a new paid maternity leave benefit. Any female members of the Carpenters and Joiners Welfare Fund are entitled to benefits which would give mothers $800/week under the following three scenarios:

• Traditional Delivery, six weeks.
• Cesarean, eight weeks.
• Certain conditions during pregnancy or post-delivery, up 26 weeks.

Jess Venditto, a mother and union carpenter of 4 years, is looking forward to taking advantage of the benefit. Her first child was born on February 22nd, and the benefit gives her a “huge sense of relief.”

Before hearing about the benefit and after she found she was pregnant, Venditto was stressed out. Together, the couple had also just bought a house. Her husband is a mechanic and gets paid by the job, which is irregular. Often it can be, “one great check and 1,000 bucks two weeks later.”

For Venditto, the prospect of the new benefit “literally saved my husband and me. Right now, you cannot buy formula diapers on 200 dollars a week, struggling to feed myself along with the kids.”

John Raines, executive secretary-treasurer for the NCSRCC, explained that “This benefit is long overdue. We want to equip our women members with the benefit they need to both work in the construction industry and to raise a  family.” Raines further explained, “This will not only help us in the retention of our members but also in the recruitment of new members to the Carpenters Union.”

To other new mothers Venditto would say, “Come in and start a new career, it is going to change your life. You do not have to choose anymore between having a family and a career.”

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.