Susan Moir

Susan Moir, ScD, is Director of Research at the Labor Resource Center at UMass. In partnership with regional building trades unions, construction contractors and government representatives, she is co-convener of the participatory action research project, the Policy Group on Tradeswomen’s Issues (PGTI).  PGTI is a multi-stakeholder collaboration working together since 2008 to open up good jobs in the construction trades to low wage women and women of color. The shared goal of PGTI participants is 20% women in the regional trades by 2020. Susan has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct a comparative study of women working in the construction industry in India where 50% of the construction workforce is female. Follow her research, “Building bridges: A comparative study of women working in the construction industry in India and the US,” at tradeswomenbuild.org.

Susan served as Director of the Labor Resource Center from 2004-2015. Before coming to UMB, she directed the Construction Occupational Health Program at UMass Lowell where she partnered with building trades unions to conduct health and safety research on Boston’s Big Dig. Her participatory action research (PAR) projects are described in her 2004 doctoral dissertation, “Worker Participation in Occupational Health and Safety Change in the Construction Workplace.”

In a past life, Susan spent fifteen years as a leader in the Boston School Bus Drivers Union, United Steelworkers Local 8751. She was a steward, member of the negotiating committee and the founder of the internationally renowned Boston School Bus Drivers Ergonomics Committee.