2008-2009 Nine Mile and Labor

At the end of 2008 I had one of those times that while I was laid off, I was still incredibly busy. I finished a shutdown just in time to work at Democratic headquarters for Election Day. Finally we had a winning season and had a lot to celebrate. My daughter brought all her politically minded friends down to the Election Night party to await results. What a treat to see their enthusiasm; knowing my daughter was seeing the importance of what I had been consumed by for so many months. I was so busy doing unpaid work and attending conferences, I barely realized I wasn’t being paid for four months. By staying home I was able to really experience my daughter’s final year at home in high school. We visited colleges as she made decisions about her future. I took a step back while she chose between Syracuse University and Emerson College. Both had great stage management programs, but ultimately she opted for the bright lights of Boston. That made me ecstatic knowing I was going to get to visit that fabulous city for at least four years.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In March 2009, I went back up to Nine Mile Point Nuclear Plant in Oswego, NY. As always it is old home week for me returning there. Not only did I go to college there, but I stayed after graduation to work as a veterinary technician at an animal hospital for almost six years. I will always treasure my time with the doctors, but I do like being paid decently, plus the challenge of pipefitting gets in your blood. This Oswego trip my friends had found me a great housing option—a furnished 5 bedroom house that usually held college students. A converted restaurant, it had a huge industrial kitchen, a bar room with a long oak bar complete with bar mirror and glass fronted refrigerator, plus the dining room had been divided into a living area with 4 couches. The dining area boasted a table that could sit 12 with ease. I filled it with my 267 brothers plus one guy out of Buffalo local. We all chipped in money to buy groceries, cable, and phone. After a few days of general nuclear training, I was put on nights doing LLRT (local leak rate testing). This is a procedure in which air pressure is added to one side of a valve. Then the pressure change is recorded on the far side to see if the valve is leaking by in a significant amount. A digital recorder, or black box, is used since the amount allowed is so small. That is the simplified explanation. It can become very complex depending on the system being tested. Because this is such a specialty, I had to undergo more training. We trained for two weeks before the shutdown, but on the day of the shutdown they laid me off! Apparently they had over-hired and laid off 30 people that day. While I had never been so angry, there wasn’t anything to do but pack my bags and go home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All hell had broken loose at the Labor Assembly. I had gone to a Blue Alliance conference in Washington, DC that was a great networking opportunity. It was designed to bring business, environmentalists, labor and government together to discuss green initiatives for the future. As president of the Labor Assembly, I felt this was really an important conference. I also was able to visit our new Congressman whose campaign I had worked on. That was exciting on a personal level. When I returned home, I started up a local committee in Ithaca to continue what I had learned in DC on a local level. At the same time, I was having problems with the AFLCIO organizer who was assigned to assist the Labor Assembly as well as the neighboring labor council. The president of that council and I felt she could use some additional training and some better direction as to her work duties. When push came to shove, she had more support from the delegates and I was asked to resign since I couldn’t work with her cooperatively. At first I was really hurt, but in the long run it was good for me. I was still involved politically, and I had so much more free time. I had been spending over 20 hours a week on Labor Assembly duties. It was time for me to step back and enjoy life with my kids more.