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Craftsman
One hundred-twenty eight resumes, twenty-five applications, and two
interviews later, I changed direction and headed for the industrial workforce.
PhD's were my competition and I was about two years short. The man behind the
desk at All-Steel, Inc., an office furniture manufacturer near Aurora, Illinois, said that
he could hire me either as a timekeeper or as a production worker but that the production
worker position paid a lot more than the timekeeper's job. I worked as a metal
forming press operator for about six months and then as an assembly line worker for
another six months. Then I found out where the real money was hidden and became an
apprentice in a journeyman multicraft maintenance mechanic program. A senior
apprentice took me thirty feet into the air on a battery operated manlift and I watched
him change a ballast in a lighting fixture. When we got to the next fixture that
needed a ballast change, he looked at me, smiled, and said "You saw me change the
last one...this one is yours". With fork trucks driving around between the
metal forming presses on the concrete floor beneath us, I got my first practical
electrical maintenance experience. The apprenticeship was under the jurisdiction of
a local of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths,
Forgers, and Helpers, and among other things, I learned to weld and cut.
Two
years after I started the apprenticeship at All-Steel, an electrician apprenticeship
became available at the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad rebuild shops in Paducah,
Kentucky. It was a move back home for about the same pay and living expenses were
less than in the Chicago area. At the railroad shop we stripped everything off of
locomotive frames and took apart and rebuilt all of the parts. Then, we put
everything back on the frame with new wires and cables and sent the rebuilt
diesel-electric locomotives back out on the iron road. The only thing that the
diesel engine provided power for was the air compressor and the main generator.
Everything else was powered by electricity. General Motors Electromotive Division
models with letters like GP, SD, E, and F became well known and commonplace. Every now and
then a General Electric or ALCO locomotive would be sent in for major repair. I
learned to operate bridge cranes at the railroad shops and on several occasions ran the
250 ton crane which was used to move entire locomotives from track to track in the main
building. After three and a half years, my name came up on a layoff list and I found
out why they call the title "journeyman". It means "Now it is time
for you take a journey". The apprenticeship was under the jurisdiction of Local
475 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
I worked a day less than six months at the six generator 1000 megawatt
power plant of Electric Energy, Incorporated, in Joppa, Illinois. This was my first
experience with transmission line voltages (161,000 volts) and I had a lot to learn.
When my job was over, I had completed the last six months of my Electrician
apprenticeship. I went back to my IBEW local and was given a "yellow
ticket" (dues receipt) with the words "journeyman wireman" on it.
I checked in with IBEW local 816 and was sent to work as a maintenance
electrician at TVA's Shawnee Steam Plant, a ten generator 1500 megawatt power plant near
Paducah, Kentucky. This was my first of three 11-29 contracts with TVA. The
contract was for eleven months and 29 days. If they let you stay longer than that,
they had to make you a permanent employee. I got a little bit more experience with
power plant equipment and learned about 345,000 volt transmission line voltages and
500,000 volt systems .....the backbone transmission system of the TVA system. That
job lasted about eight months and I found myself signing the book at the union hall again.
The hall sent me to TVA's Paradise Steam Plant in Muhlenberg County,
Kentucky,.......as in the song "Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County,
down by the Green River where Paradise lay". It was a construction job which
involved installing the wiring for a warehouse which had already been built.
The 200 mile round trips were too long to be made each day, so I lived in a motel in
Greenville during the week and went back home on weekends. The job only lasted six weeks
and we were sent back to the hall.
The third 11-29 contract lasted an entire one day less than a year.
I was sent back up to Paradise to provide lighting for annual scheduled maintenance work
(outages) on two huge tandem two generator units, but they kept finding work for me to do
after that work was over. After the outages were over, they sent me to do control
system installation at the coal wash facility. After that, I spent the remaining
part of my time in the power plant electrical maintenance department. I lived in the
motel for a few weeks and then rented an apartment in an old apartment house. I
learned to use a CB and travel with fellow journeyman and made pretty good time on the
parkway on my weekend trips home in my 1970 Grand Prix.
I did not save much money paying the expenses on two homes while I
worked at Paradise and decided to stay home for awhile. I looked around for a dust
cloud and found one a few blocks from my home. I approached the electrical
contractor and got my residential experience over a period of two or three years.
Each building was wood frame and had four apartments. There were several different
styles of buildings. The pay was not great and the work was not constant, but I was
living at home with my family and sleeping in my own bed. One building was built at
a time, so there was a natural rhythm to the rough wiring, wait for the sheet rock people,
and then do the finish wiring. This work was flexible and it was always
available when I returned home from my periods of military training.
I had been offered a permanent job at a plant in the area, but had to wait
almost two years for the coveted security clearance required for the job. I found a
janitorial and maintenance position at a large church downtown for about ten months until
I started my present job. I worked a lot of hours a week and did a lot of
maintenance work on a very old cathedral style building. The original lighting was
gas and some of the old gas lines were used as conduit when the electrical lighting was
installed. I learned a little bit about the history of the town and a little bit
about the commercial end of the electrical trade.
Finally, all of my points of contact came together and I started working
at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. I became an operator in the Power Operations
Department....the best job an electrician could have. For a view of the place, check
out USEC's web site.
