Big Sister is in the news!
Big Sister officially launched in WA last week at ETI’s College of Electrical Training in Joondalup.
The launch was a celebration of the excellent work Big Sister is achieving in the electrical trades and the program is a testament to the hard work ETU women have put in to make this a reality.
At the launch we were joined representatives from both Federal and State governments expressing their support for this work – The Hon. Andrew Giles MP, Minister for Skills and Training, Manufacturing; Skills and TAFE; The Hon. Patrick Gorman MP, Assistant Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and The Hon. Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA, Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation; Manufacturing; Skills and TAFE; and Pilbara. Thank you to the Ministers for attending and speaking, andvTom French MP, Emily Hamilton MLA, and Rob Horstman MLC for joining the celebration.
Big Sister delivers in-school career counselling and trade tasters, tailored pre-vocational training programs, best practice mentoring for women apprentices, industry awareness events, and employer training and support.
The program is led by the ETU, in collaboration with leaders in industry and training leaders, education institutions and industry employers. Change doesn’t happen in isolation and to have so many powerful partners working together in this project is a sign of how committed our industry leaders are to shifting the dial in this space.
We know our trades provide women with meaningful, well-paid work that offer the opportunity to contribute to some of Australia’s biggest challenges.
The Big Sister mentoring program connects female apprentices with experienced tradeswomen who have been trained in mentoring and facilitates regular contact and peer support. This is a best-practice mentoring program.
Well done to Gaynor Maree, Big Sister Mentor Lead and ETU National Affirmative Action Officer and ETU WA Women’s officer and 4th year Electrical apprentice Belinda for telling their stories and advocating so strongly to get more women into the electrical trades.
Congratulations to all the excellent ETU women and members for working to make this program happen. The ETU knows it is crucial we have more women in our trades as we transition to a renewable energy future. And the jobs in that future need to be good, safe, well paid-union jobs.
The Big Sister program is coming together to help make those jobs for women in the trades a reality, a program led by women for women.
Watch more here –
To learn more about Big Sister go to bigsisterprogram.com.au