girls view

Hi Les.....Thank-you for asking for my story of Dave and myself - . My dad's sister in Russia, who I was named after, Tatjana, studied "underground" and became an industrial electrician. During the seize by the German's of her Russian city, she was forced to get the generation plant up and running at the dam for the city. She was found dead after that with her head severed in the woods outside her village.

My dad, Sergij Josafatow, was 10 years younger, and had taken his training before the WWII started and when he was captured and sent to Germany as a prisoner he was forced to work as an electrician in factories. When the war was over, he came to Canada with his German bride, Angi, and they eventually came to Kinnaird and Dad found a job at Cominco where he worked as an electrician for 30 odd years.

Two of my brothers, Pete and Alec started their apprenticeships at Cominco and now work for Fortis and Celgar Pulp respectively. I took my electrical pre-app in 1993-94 at Selkirk in Nelson, but no one would take me on as an apprentice. At that time women were not accepted into Local 1003 and I have heard quite the stories from the guys about how back then they were forced NOT to vote women in.

I tried in the Okanagan, the North Thompson areas, no one would take me on. I had men say to me everything from, "I'm not having a woman work with my men because they won't be able to keep their minds on their work," to "Ooh- Yah, I'd love for you to work with me." And the best one and most common is when I sent my resume in with my initials, "TE Martin" instead of my name, I get a phone call right away, but as soon as they hear my voice suddenly no job exists.

I gave up. After two years of trying and rejections, I decided my nine months of pre-app was a waste of time and money. I slung beer part-time at the Falkland Pub, I sorted seedlings at nurseries in Tappen, I ran a tractor on our farm and did the haying, stuck my arm in shoulder deep into cows who hadn't cleaned properly after calving, anything and everything to keep afloat financially. Eventually I started selling cellphones in Kamloops and Vernon and thought I'd found my vocation. I was in the process of buying a store in Vernon when a car accident 1999 happened. I lost my job. I couldn't work, and I had no benefits.

I slipped into quite a depression as I knew a huge lifechange was imminent. In a career councellor's office in Kamloops that January I was waiting in the reception area, when an ad in the local newspaper caught my eye. It was looking for "Electrical Assemblers" at Newnes in Salmon Arm and I knew my son Dave, who was in Castlegar at the time had been layed off from his job at a sawmill in Salmo. He had taken the Core Electronics course in Kamloops the year before so maybe this assemblers job would suit him.

Two weeks later he still had not sent his fax in so I sent mine, and I got a call within a day. When I asked them why they called me, they said it was because of my electrical training. "But I haven't had a single day of work as an electrician," I said still unclear as to why they hired me. "From the rest of your resume we can see you will get a job done and you are not afraid of trying something new." Well, that was true. They hired me on the spot. I loved it at CAE Newnes. The electrical department was teaming with great minds and fun personalities. We tested lasers and aligned them into sensors which were then installed into optomisers for sawmill equipment. The pay was good and benefits kicked in after 90 days. My co-workers and I still correspond to this day.

Then the next January 300 of us (my son included) were handed our pink slips when a downturn in the sawmill industry forced sawmill closures everywhere. I had EI for five months but that didn't pay the bills. I was back in Castlegar by then and heard they were hiring at the Hugh Keenleyside Dam. By then Lou Boulaine was IBEW Local 1003 BA, and with that change in "government" I finally had my apprenticeship July 19, 2001 -seven years after my pre-app. I had a ton to learn and boy were my brain cells rusty after that many years out of school.

And now, four years later I passed my IP. My son, Dave, got into the trade after he was laid off at Newnes when he applied for anything and everything in the Salmon Arm area. He got a call from an employer who indentured him and got him started in the trade, So he works in Kamloops. He just bought a house with his fiancee has a terrific future ahead of him in the electrical trade.

My other son, Glen, would be a natural electrician also, but his broken back has altered his goals now. He is a student at Thomspon Rivers University studying to be a lawyer.

After writing the IP, I was so scared to open the envelope from the Apprenticeship branch. I sat down in my office chair. Took a huge breath,and tore it open carefully. When I saw "congratulations..." I burst into tears. I talked to my sons immediately. What an incredible feeling to hear your sons so proud of you. I thanked them for always believing in me and standing beside me through thick and thin, when we had nothing to eat, and not enough money even for a christmas tree or presents. We have always been our best supporters. I raised them on my own - it's been 23 years now.

Tanya