When I was in my late teens in 1969, I worked for the telephone company in California as a long distance operator for AT&T before dropping out of college. In my early 20s, I was a letter carrier in California and belonged to the Postal Workers Union. I spent one year working in a factory that made pacemakers in Massachusetts and three years here in Bellingham, Washington, as an industrial sewing machine operator, first in a union shop as a member of the International Garment Workers Union, then in a shop where I sewed backpacks together, and finally in a sailmaker's loft where I sewed sails, spinnakers, and boat covers. Because I am tall, I developed neck and back problems from bending over to work on industrial sewing machines. When I was 30, I returned to college to finish a degree in English Literature and Studio Art and then found myself unemployable in our small college town until I forced myself to learn to type and then became a medical transcriptionist at the local hospital. Through most of my working life, I was a production worker, working hard for only modest compensation. I am proud of the work I did. Watching "Union Maids" is an emotionally powerful and empowering experience.
(1970 -- telephone operators)
