The Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council is working to make the trades a more diverse workforce.In May, the Building Trades released their third short video – this one focusing on the diversity of their members.“Diversity and inclusion is a primary objective of our organization,” said Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary Dave Wondolowski.This objective, members say, is working.For IBEW Local 38 electrician Jamie Davis, the difference in the workforce is noticeable. When he first started, Davis said the workforce was not nearly as diverse. Today though, it is a different story. The electrician says apprentices and young journeymen now have a number of senior minority journeymen they can look up to and use as role model on the jobsite.“The opportunities are there for anyone that wants to take advantage of it,” said Marcus Burts, a journeymen bricklayer with Local 5.Jairo Cabrera, Field Steward and Field Superintendent for Bricklayers Local 5, added that everyone gets a fair shot to have a career in the building trades – especially with the amount of work available. Cabrera would like to see more minorities join, to help further diversify the membership and better reflect the community as a whole.Like Davis, Cabrera sees a difference between when he first started working in construction and today, especially among the amount of Latino and African-American members.To learn more about joining the trades, visit our training center page and click on the trade you are most interested in joining.