1991 Pregnancy and the Pipefitter

By September 1990, I was 5 months pregnant, but not really showing. I had wicked morning sickness that lasted all day. I couldn’t eat anything without losing it shortly afterwards. You haven’t lived until you have puked into the urinal of a portapotty! There were no working toilets in the building and while my boss had told me I could take the job truck down to the corner store, I usually couldn’t make it there in time. I also christened a few floor drains. The job was working 5-9’s, so every Monday morning I would make the 2 hour drive from home. I would actually drive with a bag stretched across the steering wheel because every time I saw road kill, I would lose it. In the Rochester Local, they have a tradition that if there is a local guy on the bench and a traveler working, the local hand has the right to bump the traveler. One Thursday my boss came to me to tell me this was the case. As the last traveler on the job, I would be getting laid off on Monday. I had a scheduled doctor’s appointment on Monday and would’ve been late, so I asked to be laid off Friday instead. I also told him why I had so many doctor appointments. Then I approached the Steward on the job. “We have a problem with my pay.” I said. “What do you mean?” Said Bagsy (Pat B) “Don’t first year apprentices get 50% of scale?” “Yeah, but you’re a journey man” “True, but I’ve been carrying a first year in my belly the whole job!” Being an Italian family guy, he was thrilled and delighted for me. However, when I went to go climb into the lift to do my job, he was all protective and concerned. I assured him I was only one day more pregnant than I had been the day before and everything was fine. The next day the whole job took up a collection for me and then took me out for a “Peggy got fucked” party. In their own way, these guys can be so sweet! In contrast, the next time I was pregnant, five years later, my foreman laid me off AFTER I told him, but that is a story for another time. So there I was 5 months pregnant and unemployed. My doctor, who was a wonderful man, said I could work up until my 8th month as long as I didn’t climb ladders or carry anything over 20 lbs. Well, there is no light duty in pipefitting, so I applied for NYS disability. Try explaining to a beaurocrat that No I can’t work right up until my due date. I don’t sit at a desk. I have a hard, very physically demanding job. I wasn’t very successful because the day I came home from the hospital all government help stopped. Luckily I was able to pick up the odd bartending job, and was on the WIC program for formula. I had developed toxemia and had to have my daughter by c-section 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Talk about squeezing a nickel until it squeaked! My BA,Roy D, who didn’t like women in the trade in the first place and definitely didn’t think mothers should work, put me on the bottom of the hiring list, even though I hadn’t worked in our local for over a year. I didn’t work in the trade again until September 1992. I was able to get a job working for a veterinarian as I am a NYS licensed Vet Tech, but the money wasn’t as good and I wasn’t adding anything to my pension or healthcare accounts.