Lia: Welcome to the Sparky Life Podcast. I'm your host, Lia Lamela. Here we discuss women in the trades and how to construct your career. As a traveling pipefitter in the UA local 495,, Jennifer Crane describes how sometimes a work assignment can feel like a paid vacation. Jennifer is a 23 year-old homeowner in Ohio, and this passionate pipefitter understands the value of showing up.
Lia: Please welcome with me, Jennifer Crane.
Lia: Thank you so much for being here!
Jennifer: Thanks for having me.
Lia: So I know that when we spoke earlier, we were talking about why we don't think more women are in the trades.
Jennifer: I think for a lot of women, they're intimidated by it. Um, they don't think they can be successful, or they're nervous, you know, they don't have a lot of support. I remember I started college at 16. My first semester I told my dad, you know, Hey, I don't really like this. I don't wanna work a desk job. I wanted to go to a vocational school and learn how to weld and do what my dad does. And he was like, oh no, you, you're not gonna like it. You know, you won't do that. And I was 18, I graduated high school and I said, Hey, uh, I'd like to work construction. And I talked him into helping me get a job doing concrete that summer as a way to, uh, scare me outta construction basically.
Lia: So he did not want you doing it. Do you know the reason why he was not necessarily for it?
Jennifer: I think he was more scared of, there's not a lot of women in the trades.
Lia: It's 2022, and I think, what's the percentage?
Jennifer: Like Percentage is 4%. Overall. The percentage of female apprentices is 14%.
Lia: Right. But overall, we're still at four. Yeah.
Lia: Insane. Yeah, that's crazy. Like no other male dominated field is that low.
Jennifer: At the Trades Women Build Nations, I think across the board for union trades, we're up to 14%, but you know, that's still not a lot when women make up 50% of the population and should make 50% across any type of field. You know, you don't have to go to college to make a lot of money and to earn a good living.
Lia: Speaking of a lot of money , you are a homeowner. How old are you?
Jennifer: I am 23. I bought my house at 20 years old. I had done concrete for a year and a half, and then I bought it as I was transitioning from being a union laborer to a union pipefitter. And fortunately I was able to start out at my local for pipefitter, started out at $25 an hour.
Lia: That's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you have no school loan debt?
Jennifer: No, it gave me a lot of freedom and a lot of independence. Being in a trade and being able to make good money, it's very easy to make six figures in a trade. I know pipefitters for where I live in Ohio are one of the higher paid trades, but at $45 an hour, typical 50 hours a week, there’s six figures a year right there.
Lia: Right. That's really fantastic, and I think you were telling me some of your friends right now, they're not really in the same position as you and don't really understand what it takes working in the trades.
Jennifer: No, and that's, I'm not gonna say it's always easy. I like what I do. It's very fulfilling to me. I like being able to work on something and physically see the progress of building something and as it's constructed and as it goes in, and then driving by a couple years later being like, oh, you know, I was there when they set the walls on that. Or we held that piece of pipe up there into the first welds coming off that, and that was the first time we had done chrome, you know, something like that that a lot of people can't relate to, and I think a lot of women have a hard time just seeing themselves in these types of jobs because there isn't a lot of representation for women for them.
Lia: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jennifer: You know, you drive by a construction site and maybe you'll see a woman, uh, and I don't mean any disrespect by this, but you know, she's the person standing there holding the stop sign and the go sign and that's great. She's getting her foot in the door, bu, we need to be more ambitious. We need to be the people you know in the machines out there doing stuff. Superintendents running jobs, project managers, working our way up to show other women that you can achieve a lot.
Lia: Yes. Yes. A lot of my friends who can't wrap their head around the fact that I'm an electrician working in the trades, I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about what plumbers do, what electricians do, what pipefitters do. Can you explain to our listeners what pipefitters really do? Like what does your day-to-day look like?
Jennifer: My day-to-day. I like the more technical stuff, um, that involves math and everything like that. You have this piece of pipe, your slope's gonna be so many inches per foot. You've gotta have this fall. You've gotta go from A to B and make it connect. So you've gotta fit it. You've gotta miter the piece, everything like that. That's what I like about it. And then a lot of it's just, you know, Making sure it looks nice, putting in a quality product, measuring math, welding, rigging stuff, double checking it. A lot of blueprints.
Lia: Yes. Okay. So electricians and pipefitters actually have a lot in common. I can totally relate. The architecture, the geometric symmetry is so important and there's real art in doing it. So math obviously is a huge part of. And actually when I was in high school, I was horrible at math, really bad at math, and I really didn't become great in math until I started working in the trades.
Jennifer: That's one of the biggest benefits I think that they have to being on the union side, I get five years worth of training, 200 hours a year in the classroom, going over what we need to be successful. From there, and as you get further into the trade, at least for mine, you can kind of pick what you wanna specialize in more.
Lia: Yeah, same for us.
Jennifer: Yeah. So it makes it a lot easier on the people that maybe they're not great at math, but they want to be a welder. So they're not gonna take the higher level math courses, they're gonna take extra weld courses.
Lia: Right.
Jennifer: Get more welding certifications. Whereas the people like me that are a little bit crazy and like it, you know, we have advanced layout, advanced blueprints, instrumentation, which I'm sure as an electrician, I've worked on a couple crews where it's fitters and electricians together because, you've gotta have the pipe and the electric going through it to run your uh, p and IDs and stuff.
Lia: Yeah. We're working with some steam fitters actually right now, which is so interesting. There's a lot of camaraderie on the job sites, which is really fun. I feel like the trades, especially being in a union, brotherhood, sisterhood, they're more team oriented.
Jennifer: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
Lia: When you work together like that, I think that's why you get such craftsmanship and such quality product.
Jennifer: I agree with that. For example, like you're running conduit and I'm running pipe and we've gotta put 'em in a rack together. Can we compare prints? Make sure, you know, we're not gonna be in each other's way. Anything like that. We might work for different companies on big jobs, but you know, both of our books say UA, we're gonna help each other when we can.
Lia: Right.
Jennifer: And my dad's in the trades. My dad's a union pipefitter as well. And there were times when I was younger that I didn't know it at the time, but his best friend was a boilermaker, and my dad would have to leave for work really early in the morning to get to some of his jobs when he was trying to raise me as a single parent. And his buddy that was a boilermaker stepped in and said, oh, my daughter's babysitter comes over at this time because me and her mom have to leave. Just go ahead and drop your kid off.
Lia: Aw.
Jennifer: And it became a family. I still refer to him as my uncle and stuff like that.
Lia: That's sweet. That's really nice. It's special. It's very special. The people who are part of your crew, how many years have they been in, typically? How long have they been in their craft?
Jennifer: Typically around 15 to 25 years.
Lia: Yes, yes. That's a long time.
Jennifer: I've definitely been around people that have been in longer. That's just the average of what I normally work around, but I know people that have been in, you know, 50 years that are still working, still loving what they do, and still making good money.
Lia: Well, that amount of time, that amount of dedication, that's how you get experts. The fact that it's an apprenticeship, we're learning from experts. I mean, during the Renaissance it was basically called the Golden Age because that's when apprenticeship really became a thing. We produced the greatest artists, scientists, architects during the Renaissance period, and it's because apprenticeship was so indoctored. That's how you create real experts in their field. You have a mentor. You have people who have been doing this for, like you said, 15, 20 years. Some of them 30, 40 years they've been in, to learn from them, and they want to teach you. That's another key in the trades. They want to teach you. They want you to grow. They want you to be the best you could be.
Jennifer: If you don't teach this person the five years that they're an apprentice and they turn out and they don't know anything, that's on you, cuz they're still gonna make exactly what you make, man, woman, age, doesn't matter. Everybody wants to see the other person do well because the better one person in that local does, the more they bring into the local.
Lia: Right? It's mutually beneficial in many ways. You're gonna be working with these people. These people are paying for your pensions. You, you want them to be successful. And then you hit on something right there about pay: equal pay, it's 2022 and women are still not getting equal pay. I think it's 83 cents to the dollar. Only in the union are you gonna get equal pay. And then, this is another great thing, I don't know how it works in your union, but in mine, not only are we getting equal pay, but there's an opportunity to get above scale. So if you are a real expert, you're really good, you specialize, and construction company wants you, they will pay you above scale just to have you. So not only am I guaranteed equal pay, but I also have an opportunity to make above scale depending on my skills.
Jennifer: My dad's been in a lot longer. He's able to negotiate a lot better because like you said, the skill and the advantage of being in for so long and having those training programs and being good at putting in a quality product gets you that advantage where you can say, I want this.
Lia: Right, right.
Jennifer: On jobs that are travelers, I don't know how often you've traveled, but you know, once you have a certain part of travelers, they can all come together and say, okay, we want per diem. This is the wage for this area. This is what per diem is for here we wanna make this because we're away from home.
Lia: Yeah, yeah. In my local, I haven't had a lot of experience traveling. However, I hear travelers do very well. It can be super exciting cuz you get to see different states, see different places, experience different things. That's awesome.
Jennifer: It was a lot of fun and you know, big jobs like that where everybody's traveling. You find so many cool things to do.
Lia: Yes, yes.
Jennifer: And you're getting paid while you're there. It's like a paid vacation, you know.
Lia: I totally get what you mean. Yes. Yes. Hey, do you get paid to go to school?
Jennifer: So unfortunately we don't. Um, I have had a contractor that paid me 20 hours while I was in class. That's very few and far in between because the way classes work for us, we do our classes eight to four, Monday through Friday, five weeks a year from fall to spring, and they space 'em out. So you can work in between and they give you your schedule about a year in advance. To try to help you with that. Uh, we are able to file unemploy. You know, it's not nearly as much as what we'd make in a week of work, but with the skills you've gained going to that class, you're gonna make a lot more than what you're gonna lose. Missing a week of work.
Lia: Yes. Oh, I'm spoiled because for my trade, they pay us to go to school. We are spoiled because not only are we being paid to work, but we're also being paid to go to school. And we don't have to pay for any of our books. The only thing we pay for are our tools. So, I can't understand why more women aren't interested in pursuing a career in construction or investigating the trades and all I can imagine or assume that it must be is in my situation I didn't even realize it was an option. When I went to high school, they pushed college. I didn't even know trades was like an option for me, what that would look like. I didn't know anything about unions. I'm a big advocate for a free labor market, and I think the schools are really doing a disservice, especially for women not exposing them to the trades and what it has to offer.
Jennifer: I agree wholeheartedly, and that's one thing that I've pushed for and that my local has pushed for, is to go in and advertise, say, you know, this is what we offer. This is, you can come do this too. And one of the biggest benefits in my local, I'm fortunate that 3 out of 12, so 25% of apprentices in my class, including myself, are women.
Lia: Woo. I'm jealous.
Jennifer: Our training coordinator actually took one of the other apprentices in our local to a job fair to, you know, show, Hey, there's this woman here, she does this, try to get more involvement, and my local's been very supportive of getting more women in and giving us everything to get good careers. But, at the same time, single moms, daycares aren't open at 4:30 in the morning when I leave for work. Sometimes women with kids just get overwhelmed because there's not that support there for them, and I feel like that scares a lot of women. The thought of, when I have kids, what am I gonna do? I can't do this.
Lia: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. .
Jennifer: But what they don't realize is, you know, they're making $40,000 a year, maybe 50, struggling when they could make easily $80,000 a year, and almost any union trade as a journeyman, and you know, you make twice as much a year, you have so much more income coming in and you can put money back instead of, I got a flat tire on my way to work, I can't afford to tow it. I can't afford a tire and daycare.
Lia: I actually know women who are single moms in the trades and they figured out a way to make it work. And the reason that they did is because now they have a career that they're passionate about, they feel like they have a purpose, and they can provide for their children, and they don't have to rely on anyone else.
Jennifer: Exactly. And like I said, I make enough that if I had kids and I wanted to go the nanny route, I could get a nanny. And there's nothing wrong with women that can't afford that or can't do it, but the difference is 50 to $70,000 a year trying to work part-time and take care of a kid versus working full-time and knowing who your kid is with, my opinion. And not everybody has to go that route. I'm not preaching that. That's just kind of what my plan is. If I have kids, I'll pay somebody and keep working my career. But I feel like a lot of women are intimidated by that cuz there is this big uncertainty, but, you know, I know a lot of places that have worked with women that have kids that, you know, maybe they gotta come in later or they gotta leave early or whatever, and they've let them do it to be able to provide for their children and be in this career field.
Lia: What would you recommend to women who are interested in getting into the field?
Jennifer: I wouldn't let anything stop them or scare them. It's a lot more rewarding than any job I've ever had. You know, when something breaks around my house, I'm the one that fixes it now, um, I don't mess with the electrical stuff, so maybe next time I'll call you, but you know, a valve in the shower broke and I was working out of town, so my dad came and fixed it and was like, oh, hey, uh, your pipes are green and you know, I know you've been saving for a bathroom model anyways, so on the weekends when I was off, I'd come home and I'd tore everything outta the bathroom and I can't even tell you what a bathroom would cost, but I can tell you I didn't pay myself for the labor.
Lia: Right, right. Exactly. Right. Right. You've obviously experienced a lot. You take care of yourself and are very independent. So with all your life's experiences, with everything that you've learned thus far on your journey, what's something that you carry with you? Always? What's in your tool belt, so to speak?
Jennifer: I'd say the biggest thing that I carry in my tool belt is, it's also a phrase that I got with my dad. If you can't tell him, fairly close with him.
Lia: Can't tell. Can't tell at all.
Jennifer: I was struggling at one point. I didn't like the job I was at. I didn't like what I was doing. I wasn't doing well, and I got this big, long text and the part that stood out for me was, “you do this for you. You don't show up every day because you wanna impress your boss or because you want this raise or this promotion. You show up every day for you”. It's a sense of accomplishment of how far I've been able to come and how much further I can go that I always keep with me.
Lia: You show up for you. That's amazing. A lot of people don't do that. That's really incredible.
Jennifer: One of the biggest things, you know, if you don't show up for you and you don't work for your future, nobody else is going to.
Lia: Damn right. All right, Jennifer, thank you so much for being with us. It was such a pleasure speaking with you. This has been wonderful.
Jennifer: It was wonderful to talk to you as well. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this and I hope somebody hears this and decides they want to join the Union trades, and I hope this helps encourage more women to get in.
Lia: If any of the listeners have any questions and would like to reach out with you, do you mind if I give your information so they can ask questions?
Jennifer: Absolutely not. They can ask as many questions as they like, and I'll try to point 'em in the best direction I can.
Lia: I hope you all enjoyed Jennifer Crane as much as I did. A powerful pipefitter who always shows up for herself. Now, what does that even mean? What does that look like? Showing up for yourself in short is taking care of yourself in a way that supports your mental, emotional, and physical health, and what does that look like?
Well, certain phrases come to mind. Like not abandoning myself as a recovered people pleaser. I no longer struggle with saying no, giving myself grace when I fail, but most importantly, loving myself, loving all my imperfections and seeing them for what they really are. Beautiful. How do you show up for yourself?
Thank you for joining us. If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review. I'd love to hear what lit you up. Take what resonates with you, and if you'd like to hear more of the Sparky life, please subscribe, like, follow, and share. Until next time, create the sparks in your life.