Juliet Silvestre, left, a first-year plumber apprentice, and Samantha Johnson, a third-year plumber apprentice. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
Juliet Silvestre and her peers stood in a parking lot sandwiched between the plumbers’ union hall and training center in the West Loop on a recent Thursday afternoon. The group of first-year plumber apprentices buzzed with chatter as they awaited their 3:30 p.m. dismissal.
One of the reasons Silvestre, 24, was inspired to go into plumbing was because of the way she saw her single mother being treated by male contractors, she said.
“There were a lot of situations where she was taken advantage of by men contractors,” Silvestre said, “and I want to be part of that change and be able to provide a service to other women and them know that they’re not gonna get screwed over.”
Silvestre is one of 10 female apprentices in her class of 134.
Her plumbing apprenticeship through Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 UA is a five-year training program that consists of on-the-job training and passing a test to receive a plumbing license. A person who completes an apprenticeship is considered a journeyperson or journeyman.
The number of women in construction industry apprenticeship programs has remained mostly steady in Illinois, going from 3% to 5% since 2009, according to Illinois Department of Labor data.
For many women who work in the trades, the opportunity to share experiences and build community is especially beneficial in a male-dominated field.
While there has been some progress in more women going into the trades, there’s more work to be done to help women stay, according to foreman service plumber Robin Roccasalva, who’s the first elected, part-time female officer for Plumbers Local Union 130 UA.
Members of Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 UA gather at the union’s training center in the West Loop on Sept. 19, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
Factors like discrimination, harassment and a lack of respect have led some women to consider leaving the trades, according to a 2021 report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which surveyed more than 2,600 tradeswomen and nonbinary tradespeople across the U.S.
Treasure Saunders, a journeyperson technical engineer, said when she first started in her career, people made comments to her that she wasn’t supposed to be in construction.
“My first journeyperson I worked with made me do everything by myself to prove myself to him,” Saunders, 38, said. “I basically showed up every day to work out of spite for him, just to prove that I was going to be tough enough to do the job.”
“But it worked out and after a while, I gained a lot of respect that way,” Saunders continued. “It’s not something that I would encourage other women to do. It was actually a miserable first year for me.”
Saunders, who is Black, said she has been sexually harassed and harassed based on her racial identity while on the job, which she said made her grow a tough skin.
Saunders said the company she works for now is supportive of her and tries to build a space where women can feel comfortable. She said there is a hotline and other forms of support to speak to someone if issues do arise at the workplace.
Roccasalva, who is also a part-time instructor for the plumbers’ union apprenticeship program, said the learning process is different now compared to when she started her apprenticeship in 2003 and was taught by instructors who had “tough love” mindsets.
“I can say firsthand from dealing with it myself, the world has become a better place because the mentality has changed,” Roccasalva said. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”
Female members of Plumbers Local Union 130 attend a send-off event in the West Loop on Sept. 19, 2024, ahead of heading to New Orleans to attend Tradeswomen Build Nations, one of the largest conferences for women in construction. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
Women in trade careers might also be without paid parental leave or struggle to find child care that accommodates a nontraditional work schedule, according to a recent Chicago Sun-Times op-ed from Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea and Mandy Jo Ganieany, director of organizing for Painters District Council 30.
These barriers mean that women in construction report having to frequently turn down overtime due to child care responsibilities, the op-ed authors wrote, forgoing extra pay and risking being labeled undependable by their boss in contrast to their male counterparts.
Saunders said it can be difficult to have a career in construction and have a family. Saunders is a parent of three children, two of whom are now adults, and her youngest child is 12 years old.
“I’ve worked 16-18-hour days. How do you get day care for that?” Saunders said. “I have to leave my house at 4:30 in the morning to beat traffic. There’s no child care available for someone who’s going to be gone from 4:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s just not realistic.”
Women in construction raising children have to build a community and have support from all over, Saunders said, adding that the support of family members allowed her to pick up overtime at work.
Treasure Saunders, a journeyperson technical engineer, at the Plumbers Local Union 130 hall in the West Loop on Sept. 19, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
“Financially, it was the best decision that I’ve ever made, but it was definitely rough on the family at first,” Saunders said.
Difficulties finding child care and a lack of support during pregnancy and parenthood were some reasons some parents considered leaving the trades, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research report.
However, a majority of mothers with children under 18 surveyed, about 60%, have not considered leaving the trades, suggesting it shouldn’t be assumed that becoming a parent will cause women to leave the industry, according to the report.
Survey respondents pointed to the tradeswomen community, support from their union locals and inclusive workplace policies as factors that helped them stay and succeed in their careers.
A big topic of discussion in the building trades industry is the recognition of single moms, single dads and LGBTQ+ couples in the industry, just like in any other field of work, according to IL AFL-CIO Communications Director Alyssa Goodstein.
“It’s not the straight white male world that it was marketed as for so long,” Goodstein said. “It never was just that world.”
From left, Jennifer MacDonald, business representative and an organizer for Plumbers Local Union 130; part-time female union officer Robin Roccasalva; and business manager James Coyne speak with members at the union hall in the West Loop on Sept. 19, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
On a recent Thursday, a group of about 20 women gathered in the union hall of Plumbers Local Union 130 UA. The gathering was a send-off event for women heading to New Orleans to attend Tradeswomen Build Nations, one of the largest conferences for women in construction.
Alison Blumenthal, a fifth-year plumber apprentice, said her journey as a plumber started after dropping out of college, working as a service dispatcher at a plumbing shop and realizing that she didn’t like working behind a desk.
Blumenthal said that apart from a few “bad apples” that have since been let go in her company, she enjoys her career and doesn’t feel she gets treated differently for being a woman.
“I’ve had roofers go in my car and leave their phone numbers before, after I’ve told them I’m not interested, but it’s boys, it doesn’t bother me,” Blumenthal, 26, said. “I don’t let it hold me down because it’s 2024. Nobody cares if girls are in the field. We can do things better than boys can any day of the week.”
Blumenthal will be attending the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference for her third time. But the experience of being in a room and hearing from other women who go through similar experiences still gives her chills, she said.
“As simple as finding work boots for women that fit you and are actually comfortable or work pants that fit you,” Blumenthal said. “Like, ‘Hey, look at these great things that I fit in because you should feel comfortable at work, too.’”
Tradeswomen from the Chicago area will be attending Tradeswomen Build Nations, one of the largest conferences for women in construction, in New Orleans from Sept. 27-29, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
Samantha Johnson, 33, a third-year plumber apprentice, will be attending the women’s conference for the second time.
Johnson said her workplace recently hired two more female apprentices. One way to get more women interested in going into trade careers, like plumbing, is to lead by example, Johnson said.
“I hate to say it, but men have a plethora of inspiration they can pull from,” Johnson said. “There are men in every type of different job title you can think of. Women are still breaking into those ‘man-only worlds,’ so when you see somebody your gender, it helps tremendously.”
Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]
