Interview with a Borough Worker

INTERVIEW WITH A BOROUGH WORKER

1. Vocation: What is your job title/position/job description?

Skilled Laborer for the Borough…a large borough. There are about 5 skilled labor workers, and 10- 12 laborers. The rest of the borough employees have different titles.

2. Do you belong to a union?

Yes, all the borough workers are hired by the borough, but pay Union dues ($50 to $70 per month) to be protected by the Union. The dues pay the salaries of the Union representatives. All the management is non-union, all the workers are Union. The Union’s job is to protect us from unsafe, non-regulation conditions and to help negotiate contracts, or unfair situations. You can become borough management, but then you’re no longer in the union, and don’t have that protection. Union will pay partial wages during a strike, or help with other expenses during medical leave. Our union does not dictate the jobs we can or cannot do, like the plumbers and carpenters unions. They’ll fight for you if you have a complaint, or feel like the borough is not negotiating a fair budget. You cannot get fired unless the Union rep says it was legitimate.

3. Describe your physical work environment.

I punch in at the borough office, but most of the day is on the road answering complaints. I’m outside most of the day, or driving a truck.

4. Please describe a typical day (do you travel, hours you work, etc)

I punch in at 7:30 am and I’m out by 3:00. Everyday is different. The Super hands me a handful of complaints in the morning, and it’s my job to go and check them out. It could be a tree down on a road, a pot hole in front of someone’s house, or catch basins that are full and need cleaned. You do road clearing in the winter, maintenance of borough property, lay roads, clean out storm drains, and runs. It’s different every day. I get the truck and the equipment I think I’ll need, and then go check it out. I work 40 to 48 hours a week, with more overtime occasionally. I do some jobs on the side for extra money, but that just depends too.

5. How does you profession affect your ability to live a healthy lifestyle (exercise, sleep, nutrition)?

I’m in on time and out on time. They don’t own me. It don’t effect my sleep, but I’ve never been a good sleeper anyway.

6. Are there over-the-counter medications, alternative medications that are typicallyused in your profession (weight loss, tobacco, steroids, etc.)?

A lot of smokers. That’s about it.

7. What are things that your friends find interesting about your profession (like how often do you shoot your gun if you are a police officer)?/what types of questions do you get asked by the public?

People always ask how I learned to do so many of the things I do. I tell them, you just do it, and watch when someone good is on the job. You just shut up and do it.

8. How did you get interested in your profession?

I started working when I was 16. My dad died, and I dropped out of school to support the family. I had ten brothers and sisters. I started working as an assistant for a contractor, and just learned as I went. I did anything he told me to do, and I started at $1.08 per hour. It wasn’t very much…I thought he said $1.80 when he hired me, but I didn’t hear him right. When I was 35 and needed a steadier job with benefits and no layoffs in the winter. I had three kids to raise. I went to a friend who worked at the borough, and I was in…. easy because they knew I could do what they asked. You just had to know someone then. Now you have to go through an interview, and sometimes have a certificate or papers with your experience on them.

9. What do you like most about your profession?

Quitting time. 3:00 I’m out of there. That’s seriously what I liked the most. I liked the fellas I worked with, but that’s about it. I kept busy, worked hard and did my job. I liked going home. I took it because of the pension and the benefits, and the regular hours.

10. What do you dislike most about your job?

The management don’t back the workers at all. They can’t because management aren’t Union, we are. The management is full of “cracker jacks”. They like to play hard ball, and don’t even follow the rules they make. They are unreasonable. They hammered me for years. I could do more than most of the guys, and they knew it, and gave me all the work. If I said “no” they sent me home, If I said “yes” I did more than my share of the skilled labor that they couldn’t find no one else to do. Even in my 50’s they gave all the work to me while the young guys stood there watching. I got all used up. I guess they knew it would get done right if I did it, but damn, did I get hammered. Even with the Unions, they can use you all up. They try to give you dangerous jobs, like getting into a 15 foot ditch with no shoring (support structure to keep the walls of the ditch from caving in on the workers.) I have to give ‘em hell and make them call a Union rep out to just tell them to do their job and make the place safe. I’m not giving them my life. I say “no way am I getting in that ditch with no shoring”, and I’m called the bad guy. I was in a hole once when one side came in on me, and pinned me to the side of the ditch. I didn’t complain though my hip hurt like hell for quite a while after that. I wasn’t like one of those guys that would call off for any reason. I wasn’t going to let it happen again though.

11. Educational background:

I Graduated 8th grade.

12. High school

13. Vocational school or College

Many go to Vocational Schools or Trade schools to get certified in different skills. I did not. Some are apprentices or journeymen before they come to the borough.

14. Graduate school or special training

15. How does one obtain a job in your profession?

You get an interview. You have to have skills, and usually you have to know a commissioner or someone on the crew to recommend you. It’s harder now than it used to be to get work in the borough. There was plenty of work then.

16. What previous positions have you had since you started this profession?

I’ve done everything; concrete work, plumbing, wiring, brick laying, asphalt.

17. Can you get promoted? If so, to what position and how?

You could be a super or a foreman if you wanted to and brown nosed enough. I never wanted to because you truly had to kiss someone’s ass to get in, and I could never do it. Just being good at what you do doesn’t count, you’ve got to play the game.

18. What are the "perks" of your job?

I can’t think of one. They provided uniforms and shoes, but that’s about it. We didn’t get picnics, or bonuses, or anything.

19. How do you get paid (contract, per mile, per hour, etc.) How can you make more money?

I was hourly, but could get overtime if I chose to go out on an emergency water break or something. They give the senior workers first chance to go out for overtime. You get three hours of overtime even if you’re just out for 20minutes…that never happens though. Raises were set with the help of the Union.

20. What is the most stressful part of your job?

Dealing with Management. I hated the conflict and how stupid the foremen were. They were all in it because of politics, not to do a good job or do the right thing. They didn’t care about the labor, they just cared about their own pockets. They tell you what to do, and stand there watching you.

21. What emotional problems are common in people in your profession?

I guess the guys had there share of family problems. Life is hard, and you don’t make a lot of money. Frustration. Some of the guys drink a lot. A lot of them smoke; deal with cancer. Marriages go on the rocks because of the drinking…

22. What type of physical activity is required in your position?

Digging ditches, carrying rock and brick, and heavy pipes. Lots of lifting and bending and dealing with heavy machinery.

23. What things happen that really make you angry?

Loafers. Now, I don’t like to call people that, because I don’t like to point a finger, but some of them guys were just out right loafers. They did nothing. I worked with two guys once bricking a catch basin that had collapsed. I asked them to throw 150 brick into the truck so we could get going while I got the other stuff ready. They said “no”. I said, “Well then how many brick will you throw in?” and they said “how about 15”. They wouldn’t drive the truck, they would do nothing. I got in the hole, did all the work, and they watched. We ran out of bricks and when I asked them to go back and get more they said “no”. I had to get out of the hole, drive back with them to get more brick, and then go finish the job. The foreman would have come and straightened them out if I’d called, but he probably gave them to me because he didn’t want to deal with them.

I tried to be as lazy as them one day, just to see how it felt. I just sat around doing nothing for a whole day. I thought it would drive me crazy. It felt like I’d been there two weeks and it was just one day. I never did it again. If each day felt that long I never would have made it to retirement.

24. What other professions do you work with, and how do they affect your (make your job easier or harder)?

The management are the worst to work with. They give you the shit jobs and then give you grief if you use your seniority to say no. I didn’t turn down a job unless there was a good reason. We worked with the other borough employees…police, water, office staff…They sub out a bunch of work now, so you see the sub contractors for the light company or the gas company. Most of those guys are okay. They do their job, and you do yours.

25. What "health risk" behaviors are common in your profession? (tobacco, alcohol, specific drugs, sex, stress, marital or family discord, etc.)

A lot of drinking. Most smoke, and most drink a lot.

26. How does your vocation affect the personal life of you or people you know?

I took the job for my family. My family kept me going. I hated it, but I knew I had to do it for them.

27. What activities and/or hobbies do people in your profession like to do?

I love racquet ball. I played a lot after work, and it was really fun. I bowled with the guys, did projects around the house that were creative and satisfying. We’d have Stag picnics in the summer (no women allowed) I loved being with the kids. We built go-karts, and raced them in the church parking lot. I loved our family vacations to the beach.

28. Are there any items of clothing, or props that someone portraying a person in your profession would use consistently? (Hats, keys, stuff you’d keep in your pockets (or bags), day planners, work boots, particular “costume”, or types of clothing…)

We have uniforms while we’re at work. Off the clock, I just wear jeans and sweat shirts. On the job I’d have rulers, or markers, or what ever I’d need for the job.

29. If a person in your position were to get fired, what would they most likely have done to justify the termination and what would the steps involve? Do lay offs happen in your occupation?

You’d get fired for drinking or sleeping on the job. It happened. You had to go to rehab if you were caught drinking, but if it happened more than two or three times you got fired. You’re not union until you’ve gone through 6 months probation, so if you screw up during probation you’re out, and the Union won’t help you.

If you plowed your families street in the winter before other streets you could get fired, or stole tools or something, Lay offs happen, but our borough never went through lay offs.

30. During all of these questions, listen for “jargon” used by the interviewee…words they use that are “lingo” specific to their profession. Ask them to define those words if it is not clear to you.

Red Circled – When you were a skilled laborer for the Union that could do any job, including supervisory work. They’ll Red Circle you, give you a little more money, give you a lot more responsibility, but you’re still considered Union.

Grievance – When something happens btw management and a worker that requires the attention of a Union guy. The worker can file a grievance, or the management can. The Union will step in and help negotiate the situation.

31. A Story

For the last seven years that I worked there I kept a calendar in my locker, with a pencil hanging on a string beside it. Every day at the end of my shift I would go to the calendar and put a big X through the day, using the same pencil every day. I did this every day for seven years. I started with a new pencil…at the end of 7 years it was about one inch long, but I wouldn’t let anyone touch it. It felt good to make that X everyday, and count down the days until I could leave there.

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