1989 Divorce and NYSEG

At this point, I have to get personal. My life outside the job was in chaos. Dan, my husband, apparently hadn’t paid US taxes in over 10 years. He married me in January 1988, we filed joint taxes in April 1989; the IRS swooped in and closed our joint checking account. I have no idea why he didn’t tell me or why he put me in such a vulnerable position. I was young and naïve is all I can say in my defense. He immediately high-tailed it back to Canada where he re-married his ex-wife. To this day I am not sure we were legally married, or if he was a bigamist. I do know that his three children looked at me as his wife and their step mother. In fact, I married him because I was 30 years old, liked his family, especially his mother and sister, and of course the children. They lived with us (at different times) over the 8 years we were together and I still feel a very strong connection to them. The divorce was quick, but painful. I had to pay the IRS half the equity of my home, plus half the joint credit cards. Thanks to my mother, I was able to pay the IRS and worked out a payment plan with the credit cards. I swore I would never let my finances get tangled up with someone else’s ever again. At the same time as all this was happening, the job at the prison ended. I was immediately sent to work at NYSEG in Ithaca for a Binghamton contractor. It probably saved my life. The foreman, Lou Woods, was simply wonderful. He laid out the work to do and we did it. He always had the material and tools there. Anything we didn’t understand, he explained. He was also very forgiving of me. I am afraid that drinking problem from my old boss had transferred over to me. I stopped at McAnn’s Inn in VanEtten almost every night. The nights I didn’t stop, I would play softball with the girls from the Homestead Inn in Southport. For the first time as an adult, I had a crowd of women whose company I enjoyed. While I was drinking a lot, I also developed friendships that last to this day. I also met my future husband who played for the Men’s team. To be honest, I don’t remember much of that job, except for Rick C. and his wife. I was about 5 years younger than Rick and apparently that bothered his wife. Shortly after I started she showed up on the job at noon to check me out. I am not sure what I said, but by the time she left, we were friends. They only had one car so I started picking Rick up so she had something to drive during the day. One time, Rick told me she was having a problem with an old employer. Being a good guy, he sent her flowers to make her feel better. When I dropped him off at home that night, she came out and thanked me for the flowers. I laughed and promised it was his idea. When that job ended, we were sent to another job at Cornell. The Theory Center is a tall curving building that is located between Tower Road and a creek. We were installing the heating system which was long sections of fin tube along the walls. When copper is heated it expands. Therefore, you must allow for it in installation with either space consuming loops or mechanical joints. The General Foreman, Jim S-ski, decided that he knew more than the engineers and ignored their specification for anchors and guides and loops. Two weeks after I started, on the day of the company Holiday party (which our old boss insisted we attend), Jim decided to add the hot water to the system. The water went from 40 degrees to 140 degrees and pipe started to expand. Pipe was popping off hangers, bursting where it hit dead ends, and spraying water everywhere. Despite the total mess, or maybe because of it, I waved toodles and headed to the party. I was laid off less than two weeks later.

Southport Prison 1988-89

By the end of the Biotech job, I had been employed by the same contractor for over 18 months, but it was time to go! They were moving in professors and students within the week; I was even able to meet a few and show them around. In later years, when I worked in the Cornell Pipe Shop, it was fun to look at piping I had installed and do the maintenance on it. So there I was--laid off again! But then I was hired to work on plumbing in the addition at the Southport Prison. It was my first and last time being hired mostly because I was a female. As a state (public funded) project, they were required to have a certain percentage of minorities, but by the end of the job the fact that I was female didn’t matter. They knew I could do the job. The superintendent had what you might call a bit of a drinking problem. He rarely showed up before 9 and at least twice a week when we went to lunch, we never made it back to the job. He would hand me the keys to the company truck, so I could go back and lock up our tools and hand in our security badges. The next workers hired after me were my husband and his friends Jack H and Joe B. Luckily for the Super, they were very good at their jobs and we managed to get the project completed on time and under budget. By the end of the job a year and a half later, I was divorced and I am sure no one would have used my liver for a transplant organ! The job itself was very interesting. We installed all the plumbing from underground to the roof drains. The roof drains were a trip! The specifications had us using galvanized piping that used lead and oakum joints. This is almost unheard of today, but for you non-plumbers, it involves winding the oakum (rope like) around the pipe inside a socket, then pouring molten lead on top. After it hardens, you tap it down with a special chisel-like tool. The theory is that when water hits the oakum it swells to prevent leaks while the lead holds it in place. Working with hot lead is dangerous and difficult. Most of the workers who joined us had never worked with it before. I was designated to teach them the technique and all the tricks of the trade. Some of the journeymen did not take kindly to a “girl” apprentice teaching them anything. One disgruntled jerk spit his chewing tobacco into the lead pot as I passed it. The lead in the pot exploded, but luckily I had my back to it. My whole back was covered in a thin sheet of lead, I was unhurt but shaken. He claimed it was an accident, but I know better! I was also asked to keep track of any piping changes we made to the original plans. I learned a lot about blue prints on that job and even got to draw the “as-built” drawings. I definitely was coming into my own and feeling more confident in my knowledge and abilities. School was still frustrating. I didn’t feel like the curriculum was relevant to what we were doing in the workplace. They were very lax and we mostly sat around and talked about hunting and cars. Not exactly a good use of time for me, but I hear it is better now.

Biotech Honor and Ethics

I worked on this building for over 18 months, so there are lots of stories to tell. For the most part this was the job that let me spread my wings. I had coworkers foremen and a superintendent who were able to see beyond my gender and just treat me as an apprentice. After I stopped fitting for Joe S., I worked with another apprentice, Howard, who didn’t get it or the program. Together with the foreman, Dave T. we were supposed to install hangers as Dave laid them out. This involved climbing a 12’ step ladder and using a hammer drill to make holes into which we hammered concrete inserts. Frequently we would hit rebar which would cause the drill to catch and if you weren’t braced well the drill would spin causing you to spin as well. To say it was scary is an understatement. At one point Dave had to go do something else. We came to the end of where he had laid out the holes, so I looked at the blue prints and started to layout more holes. Howard thought I was nuts for going above and beyond our "duty". Dave came back and said that since I could read the prints, I would do layout and let Howard drill the holes. Another time, Howard and I were moving the weld fittings (which we would move 8 more times); I was going as fast as I could using the pallet jack and being very efficient. Howard would move a fitting, and then smoke a cigarette. When he asked why I was working so hard, I said, “Because the faster we get done with the bull work the faster we get back to working with pipe.” He really didn’t get it and did wind up dropping out. In my apprenticeship class, which met twice weekly for 9 months of the year, there were 3 females and 3 black and one nephew of a contractor. Marie W. was also Native American. Her father was an Ironworker and she always wanted to weld. Marie is barely 5’ and maybe 100 lbs soaking wet. Well, the powers that be, decided that she should work with controls and instrumentation. Marie knew she would hate it and told them that. They would not let her take welding, so she withdrew for a year and paid for her own weld school. I don’t think that would happen today, but at the time the local was undergoing a merger and there was chaos with no clear leadership. Or what leadership we had was definitely antifemale. At one point the DOL interviewed me because contractors had told them that the women who got in had been coerced into having sex with the BA. I knew that was BS. In my case, I had only met the BA once, with my husband in the room. From conversations with the other women I was pretty sure it wasn’t true for them either. That was the first time I had to defend my honor. It wouldn’t be my last. PS Marie is now a top class nuclear welder and is respected everywhere she works.

I love our characters!

We got into a discussion the other day at work about the characters we have in our local. Not just our local, but it seems every job I go to has some of the same generic types. We started listing them and then putting names to the type. I know it sounds mean, but it was all in good fun. 1. The Pipe Whisperer: That's the guy that either talks to the pipe as he works or in contrast he is the guy that when you ask him a question he talks so low or mumbles so badly you have no idea what he said. 2. The Snake: That's the guy (frequently a foreman) who slithers around corners trying to catch you doing something wrong. 3. The Jester: He is the guy everyone likes to work with because he always has a joke to tell and the day can fly by. 4. The Storyteller/Know it all: No matter what the subject is, this guy knows all about it and has a story to tell. The day can be incredibly long when you work with him. 5. The Professor: This guy stands at the print table all day reading every detail. They come in handy if you have any questions. 6. The Blamer/Finger pointer: No matter what, it was someone else's fault. 7. The Perpetual Apprentice: Some people are just not meant to lead, but even as a 10 year journey person, they will let their partner run the show, even if their partner is an apprentice. 8. The Wannabe Foreman: Opposite of above! 9. Mr. Clean: Perfect hair (but no hair products, really), immaculately dressed from pearl buttons in pressed denim shirt to shined boots. Even after emerging from a crawlspace they look pristine. 10. Pig Pen: Opposite of above. The clothes are dirty before they begin work. They reek of sweat and booze and cigarettes and who knows what else. I swear some have green fuzz on their teeth! Now I know this was sounding kind of sexists, but there are female types too! 1. The Mother: She brings in baked goodies, worries about everyone's health and well-being, and always has a medicine cabinet in her duffel. I admit...this describes me on some jobs. 2. The Slut who looks at every job as an opportunity for a new partner in more ways then one. 3. The Bitch: Needs no explanation, but usually has had a few bad experiences and expects the worst from everyone around her. 4. The PsuedoMale: From chewing tobacco to cussing like, well like a fitter, sometimes it's hard to tell the differences between the sexes. Basically if you can find a partner who makes you laugh, who is a decent mechanic, who leads some days and follows others, who discusses the job and doesn't dictate, you're golden!

Harassment

As good as this job was it was also the job at which I experienced my first overt act of sexual harassment. I have been asked out a few times and as I say “Ask me once it’s a compliment; ask me twice it harassment.” I also believe it’s not harassment if you like it. When men and women work together, there can be light hearted chatter. I get that. In this instance, I barely knew the man and definitely didn’t like it. It was mid-afternoon as I was walking out of the building to go get material out of the job trailer. In a narrow hallway, two electricians were coming in, the general foreman and another who was the husband of a painter with whom I had become friendly. The GF, Dave Carr, who would later become BA for the electricians, said, “You’re looking wonderful today” and then grab both breasts and gave a double honk. I was so surprised and aghast; I just stepped aside and brushed past them. I was shaking and confused and really didn’t know what to do. Somehow I worked the rest of the afternoon and when I got into the truck with my husband, I burst into tears. Wisely he told me I had to deal with it myself, but that he would back me up if needed. After a sleepless night, I went to work with a plan. First I spoke to both my steward and my foreman explained what happened and told them how I was going to handle it. Then I found the dickhead and said, “You are the GF for the electricians. You never need to speak to me. If you do, I will file harassment charges and you will never work at Cornell University again. This starts now.” Then I walked away. He had the other guy try to explain that they had had a long liquid lunch and really Dave’s a nice guy. I stood my ground. He never spoke to me again and I never spoke to him. In retrospect, maybe I could have been harsher, but at the time I handled it as best I could. Mostly the harassment I have dealt with has been subtle; awkward silences, refusals to work with me, sexist jokes, porn left at my seat at the break table, BS I could ignore. On one job I was discussing pipe layout with my foreman when over his shoulder was a full beaver shot from Penthouse. Jack H was a friend. I told him I really didn’t need to be looking at porn on a jobsite. He said it was the GF's nothing he could do about it. So I told the steward, Mark S, also a friend who said the same thing. The BA, Steve W, said, “Come on Peg, you’ve been in long enough to learn to deal with this stuff.” So I was stymied. Here are 3 “friends” unwilling to support me. Plus their solution was to not allow us into the office trailer, which made the pipefitter I was working with angry as she needed to use the phone there (before cell phones). So I dropped the issue, until a few months later, she called me to say she was going to file charges against the company for harassment. I convinced her to let me talk to the GF before she did that. When I told Billy F that the picture was offensive and made me feel uncomfortable, he apologized profusely, said he had no idea as no one had ever said anything to him. He took it down immediately. Sometimes you have to skip the middleman, I guess

Biotech and Joe 1987-88

After the bad experience I had at Cornell’s West campus dorms, my confidence was shaky and I was a little scared of my ability to handle this career path I had chosen for myself. I continued to go to school twice weekly. Brian S and I would carpool and talk all the way there and back. Brian (who is called Giggles due to his infectious and distinctive laugh) would tell me stories about his job and the characters there. One night he told me that another female apprentice was starting the next day. I was angry because I knew I had been off work for much longer than her. However, I bit my tongue and casually told her that I had been offered the job, but turned it down because it was an outside job and horribly cold and miserable. I knew full well it was an inside job at St Joe’s in Elmira. The next morning Brian called me to let me know she never showed up. So I call my BA who told me to start the next day. Not only was the hospital job great, but I was transferred to the new Biotech building being constructed at Cornell where I worked for over a year. In my personal life, things were settling down as well. I married Dan and his daughter and son-in-law moved in with us until they could afford a place of there own. The house was full of people and laughter, but it was also more work for me. The job began to be a relief to go to every day. Plus I was finally partnered up with a welder! This is what fitters are really trained to do. We do the layout, install hangers, prep the pipe ends, and generally make sure the welder keeps his hood down and welding. My partner, Joe Stone, Sr., was the best! He was a good guy who treated me like an apprentice, not like some strange creature that he didn’t know how to handle. He taught me the basics of the job, but he also taught me how to think like a fitter. You need to anticipate problems and run the pipe to avoid them. By the time we were done, I could bring in full lengths of 12” pipe by myself using chainfalls and comealongs while he continued to weld. I would figure out where our pipes would be going and install the proper hangers, usually 15-20’ above the ground. He also taught me to weld. Not only did my foreman allow it, he encouraged Joe to let me practice my welding any chance I could. I would frequently skip lunch to practice. Unfortunately any skill I had acquired is long gone due to lack of practice. I can probably still weld, but it ain’t pretty! The other thing about Joe was that he was functionally illiterate. His father had pulled him out of school in 5th grade to work the fields in their Texas farm. If anything had to be read, Joe would hand it to me and say, “You read it. You’re the apprentice.” And yet every year until he died, I would receive a Christmas card, signed Joe, addressed by his current girlfriend. He was very popular with the ladies and often said that a single rose was the way to a woman’s heart. In my case it was his smile and patience that won me over.

Fall 1986 Cornell West Campus

In the Fall of 1986 I began work for the first time at Cornell University. It was the beginning of a long love affair with the campus. There is something awe inspiring about working in such an old and beautiful location. This job was a renovation of some of the dorms on West Campus. Next time you need a visual lift take a walk around West Campus, especially beautiful when the leaves are changing. You can look north to Cayuga Lake or south towards Ithaca. Unfortunately that was the best part of this particular job. I did learn a few things on this job; like it isn’t personal. Some people aren’t going to like you simply because of what you represent. In this case not only was I a female, but my boyfriend was trying to clear into the local from his home local of Toronto Canada. I never did figure out which bothered them more. It wasn’t a long job, but it was a fairly hostile environment. On my first day I was told to go remove some copper caps and solder on some adapters. When I explained I had only done brazing and threaded pipe and didn’t know how to solder, I was told, just do it. So I lugged my B-tank up 3 flights of stairs and proceed to burn the crap out of those caps. Luckily there was a 2nd year apprentice Brian S who came to my rescue. There was still water in the systems and those caps would never have come off unless I had drilled a hole in them to let the water out. The subtle harassments continued from silences to misdirection to pointless jobs meant to see if they could break me. Our contract at the time specifically said that the contractor would provide all tools. Many members still carried their own hand tools, such as pliers, measuring tape and torpedo levels. Every day my boyfriend would insist I not break the contract by bringing in my own tools and every day I would be yelled at for not having tools. I was a very long two months. There was however one very memorable day. Brian and I were working a composite crew with the tin knockers (Sheetmetal workers) installing covers on heating elements. Since they were journey men and we were the apprentices it was our duty to throw away the huge piles of cardboard that the units came in. There was an open window on the floor above a large dumpster dedicated just to cardboard. Well, at the end of a long hard week, Brian came up with the brilliant idea to jump into the dumpster from above. Do NOT try this at home!!! But I gotta tell ya it was fun! The job ended right before Thanksgiving. I didn’t go back to work for over two months. This was a pattern I would learn to love/hate for the next 30 years.

Toshiba Summer 1986

After about six weeks off, my first vacation/layoff in years, I went to work for a contractor at the Toshiba plant in Elmira. I had taken the time off to get my house in order. I had been living in Poughkeepsie when I got the call to start my apprenticeship in March. While I had moved over Memorial weekend my house was still in boxes! I found Toshiba to be challenging to say the least. My boyfriend Dan was on the job as well as his best friend, Jack. They liked to go out for lunch(and beers), but when I went with them I was invariably late to get back. My foreman spoke to me about it in no uncertain terms. Apparently, apprentices and journeymen seem to operate under different rules. I decided no more lunches out for me, at least on this job! In retrospect, it was s a good thing I was never partnered up with Dan or Jack because it gave me a chance to see how others worked. On the other hand, I did end up with a “bought book” mechanic. That is what we call members who are brought into the local based on non-union work experience and who don’t serve an apprenticeship. They are supposed to take an exam to prove their abilities, but I am not sure this one did. As an apprentice it is very frustrating to work with someone from whom you don’t learn. I guess in this case, I was learning what NOT to do! One day we were supposed to be installing a tee in a DI (de-ionized) water line to provide cooling for one of the machines. What I didn’t know then (but do now) is that these systems are usually big loops with branches leading to different equipment so that the water is continually moving to prevent stagnation or cooling off of the water. While I could see that the nearby valve was closed, the water was being fed in both directions. A competent journeyman and foreman should have known this. However, we cut the line and water poured out, all over me and the computer desk that was under us. It took forever to find another isolation valve to stop the water. Never again will I wear white to work. I definitely won the wet tee shirt contest that day!