Amy, a first year electrician's apprentice in New York, shares her experience as a radical, a union member and a feminist on the job in a male-dominated work place.

Amy, age 29
First year electrician apprentice and union member
Mother of one
New York City

Following are Amy's impressions of her first year as an electrician's apprentice.

The Job

Learning to be an Electrician
As a first year apprentice, I work with a journeyman who trains me and oversees my work, and I also take classes. The work itself varies. I can have a totally different experience every few months, depending on the company I'm placed with, the weather, or the size of the crew.

Starting Out in the Trade
I took this job because I needed to find work and I wanted to be in a union.

For most of my life, I found it exciting when I heard about people on a picket line, or in a contract fight, or organizing. I always appreciated that people were doing organizing work, not as paid organizers, but as part of their job.

A few years ago I applied for a lot of jobs. I had a pretty open mind about what jobs I was looking for. I wanted something physical, and where I’d meet a lot of people. I thought it would be good to learn a skill. Another person I knew was in a similar position. We found a program that introduced women to the building trades. Since we’ve been working in the trades, we’ve been encouraging other woman to do it too.

Being a Radical
I’m a radical trying to make my union stronger. But there are a lot of barriers.

We went to work in a place rooted in the union activism where we don’t know people, which is challenging. I think there will be a long, long period of figuring who our potential allies are before we start organizing?

One reason we did the apprenticeship was to put the brakes on our ‘hot heads’ for a little bit and figure things out, take our time, get to know people. We need to get to know what’s going on the ground before we do anything political.

You need mentors on the job and in the union. And you need other radicals who are going through the same situation as you. Especially as a new person in a field, you don’t have a comfort level with your co-workers yet.

The low pay of an apprenticeship makes it hard to be a radical. You have to work so much overtime to make ends meet. I have to work Saturdays and most nights to make adequate money. That cuts into family time, but also into friend time and political time.

If you turn overtime down, you are less likely to be asked again. It means I don’t get involved in union committees; I have to choose between them and my daughter, and between them and making enough money to live.

The Daily Work
The work itself can vary. As a first year apprentice, I do deliveries. I bring in the materials and whatever folks need. I often go to the supply houses and pick something up. I do coffee orders—that is a big deal. I am a former waitress and wasn't very good at it then.

I follow around a journeyman and help out with whatever they are doing. After I’ve worked with someone for awhile, they will put me on my own little assignments here or there.

When we go home at the end of the day I have to put stuff away—the ladders, personal tools, the boxes. It’s a lot of being pulled in different directions.

I've been with the same people for a couple of months now so they understand that I am capable and fairly smart. They often let me do my own thing—but that is a sensitive issue too, because with so many people out of work you don't want apprentices doing journeymen level work.

As a woman and an eager first year apprentice, you've got to do the work, and do as much as possible. That is how you learn.

I have to prove that I can do it, but I have to tread carefully. You have to be sensitive: that is their work, and they are paid at a higher rate. I'm the cheap labor, so management will happily have me do the higher-valued work than the guy with the higher rate.

Gender at Work

My Hair
I’ve worked with the people on my crew for awhile, and they are used to me.

But other trades people take a long hard look at me when I walk onto a work site. Take my hair for example. People watch you and notice and comment on your hair. One day, for whatever reason, my hair was flipped up somehow, and I got comments from 10 different people. Or, one day I wore my hair in a little ponytail. Everyone had a comment on the ponytail. Nothing goes unnoticed.

Sometimes it’s annoying. Other times I can ham it up and jump back. I’ve gotten into the fact that I’m the celebrity because of how I look. It probably gives me a little more power than most first year apprentices.

Buying Tampons
I’m the only woman on my job, and I feel constantly watched.

At lunchtime, you’re not supposed to take your bag out, because it means you are probably sneaking off the job. One day early on, I had my bag at lunch because I had to go to the pharmacy to get tampons, and I got in trouble for it

The guys kept asking me, “Where do you think you are going?” But I knew if told them the truth, I’d never hear the end of it. These are grown-up men who have wives and grown-up kids and sisters and mothers.

Now that I’ve worked with them a long time, I give it to them about different stuff, so there is now a comfort level. We tease each other about a lot of things. So if that happened now, it wouldn’t have been as embarrassing. Or they would have said, “Amy’s in a mood,” or, “That’s why Amy said that this morning.”

The Freight Elevator
Everybody has to pack into the freight elevator because dirty construction workers are not allowed to travel with the regular people on regular elevators. So at lunch, or when people are going home for the day, everybody is packed in the elevator together. I try to make sure that I get the back wall. Not that anything happens, but you sense it in the air. It’s like people are thinking “don’t touch the butt, don’t touch the butt. The butt is there. Don’t touch it.”

Everybody is packed in and they’ll say weird stuff. They’ll comment about the women they saw that day. I hate being in that elevator—that is the worst part of the workday.

One time someone wrote on a wall about me. I know it wasn’t one of the guys I work with. It wasn’t bad—it just said “Amy’s hot.” It was disrespectful. I was leaving when I saw it. I just noticed it and asked the guys “Who put that up there?” and they said “Not any of us.” I believe them. They’re not like that that. I just took a pencil and crossed it out.

Other Women on the Job
For a few weeks, four women carpenter apprentices were working with us. There were 50 men on the floor, but just having five women changed everything.

I could be flagrantly feminist. We could look out for each other in a way that was not typical.

For example, I had access to one of the better bathrooms on a different floor so I made sure they knew about it.

The Thought Police
I feel like I could have dealt with a lot of situations better. I am with the same people everyday and there is a certain comfort level. We can joke back and forth. But also I struggle a lot with what to challenge and what to let go.

My strategy for dealing is to joke back and make sassy comments. That’s helped make me welcome and be part of the crew. Originally, people thought I was there to be the “thought police.”

One of the things that they’re afraid of is that when a woman shows up on the job, they can’t joke anymore, they can’t be themselves, they can’t think about sex, or whatever. And that is not what I am there to do. I joke and say inappropriate things, and think about sex too.

Now that I’ve been there for a while, people are more open with me. On the one hand, that’s good. But it also means I hear more messed-up comments. Racist comments. Homophobic comments.

It’s hard to figure out how to go from a joke to a discussion. That is what I’m learning and trying to figure out. What I valued about having more women on the floor is having a space to talk about that.

I beat myself up about it. We sit around the table - me and a room full of white guys - and I’m the first year apprentice. Horrible comments get made, and I don’t say anything. And I feel like a shit after that.

If there is someone I have a closer relationship then we can talk about it—later.

The Union

Power
The companies don't hire as many people as they need, and so we have to work a lot of overtime. People like the overtime for the extra pay, but I think it keeps people quiet, too. You are making a lot of extra money, but that helps the company save money in the long run since it’s a whole lot of people they don't have to keep on the payroll.

If it’s a slow period you know you can be laid off and then be out of work a really long time.

I think people understand that when the union was stronger, certain things the company gets away with now would not have flown. For example, today the company pushes us all to work faster, with fewer people. There is a lot of talk about the ‘good old’ days, but not a lot of talk of strategizing about how to do things collectively.

On the other hand, a lot of members do their own personal slowdowns. A foreman might say "have your break at your ladder" so you can get back to work more quickly, and people try to resist that. We take our break away from the work.

Pride
In general, I work with mostly older people. They are proud of the standards of their work. We put a lot of thought and value into how our work looks—even if it’s something no one will ever see. On the one hand it’s a safety thing, but it’s also about the quality of work. It’s our way of saying, “We're skilled, and not easily replaced.”

Our members are proud to be in the local. People love wearing their t-shirts. There is pride in that.

Of course, a lot of people have a lot of issues with the union, too. They see the union representing the people who are in the right place and get the most perks. Some criticize the local for making bad decisions.

Solidarity
As a member of this union, when it’s time for a break or lunch to end, you don't tell the other guys, "its time to work." You are not the one that gets up early and starts working. We stop working together at the same time, and we go back to work together.

The Unofficial Women’s Apprentice Club
A few nights each week, all the apprentices get together before our classes. We hang out at a grocery store and drink beer. We have our own women’s table. We call it the “unofficial women’s apprentice club.”

We vent, and we talk about the work, and our lives.

Last night I told them about a joke I made at work, and one of the other women apprentices told me “Hey, that wasn’t cool.” It was good for me to hear that. Being the only woman with my crew, I can forget that just because something doesn’t bother me, it might bother others.

A few of us are lesbians, and one of us recently got married. We talk about what she’s going to do in terms of getting the benefits for her partner, and how we can back each other up when we are ready to have that fight.

It can be tough being the only woman on the job. But this group help keeps me going.