Women finding jobs in construction Nonprofit group provides training

HAMPDEN – Rather than just watch the reconstruction of Route 9 outside of her house in Aurora, Tedi Hutchinson would like to be part of the road work crew.

That’s why she was in town Saturday to take an introductory course in heavy equipment operation along with 16 other women and one man. The course was offered by Women Unlimited, a nonprofit group that encourages unemployed or underemployed females to seek jobs in the construction industry and other skilled trades, where wages tend to be high and most of the workers tend to be men.

“I feel confident,” the petite Hutchinson said after stepping out of a large orange dump truck she had just piloted around a dirt track. She also drove a bulldozer, grader, excavator and backhoe – all for the first time. With this experience under her belt, she said she feels much more confident about her ability to get a job with the Maine Department of Transportation, where she has already applied for a position. In addition, she has signed up for a class offered by Women Unlimited to obtain a commercial driver’s license, which would enable her to operate the machinery she tried out Saturday. The machines, and men to provide instructions on how to run them, were donated by the Bangor Public Works Department. The training session was held in the pit they own next to Turtle Head Marina.

A job with the DOT would no doubt pay much more than the salary she received as a medical secretary, said Hutchinson, who is currently unemployed.

More than 800 women have graduated from Women Unlimited programs and more than 90 percent of them are employed or went on to get further education. Most of the women who participate are welfare recipients.

“It means going from welfare to regaining control of their lives,” said state Treasurer Dale McCormick, who founded the program in 1988. McCormick was armed with a teaching certificate but no job in the 1970s, when a friend encouraged her to apply for a carpentry apprenticeship. She became the first woman in the country to complete an apprenticeship with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and went on to open her own business.

Because of her success, she was asked by the Maine Department of Transportation to run a program that aimed to turn welfare recipients into dump truck drivers. It was called the “mother trucker” program.

That grew into Women Unlimited.

Women who go through the program can go on to high paying jobs with good benefits. This enables them to spend more time with their children rather than working several low-paying jobs to make ends meet, McCormick said.

In addition to teaching women to operate backhoes, Women Unlimited offers education in life skills, such as financial management and interviewing techniques.

Before she went through one of the group’s courses, Karen Sperry worked as a cashier, not making enough money to support her two children. Today, she works for the Bangor Public Works Department. She paves streets, digs ditches, hauls dirt.

“It’s fun. I enjoy it,” said Sperry, who acknowledged she always wanted to drive a dump truck.

“It pays better than anything I’ve gotten before,” she added.

Donna Celino of Carroll always wanted to get into construction because she knew she could make enough money to support her four children. A Women Unlimited course opened that door for her.

She is now a foreman with Emery Lee and Sons, a construction company in Lincoln. She makes enough money during the summer working on projects like the reconstruction of Route 6, to take the winter off to spend time with her children.

Ever since she was a kid she has been interested in construction, but it’s impossible for a woman to get such a job without experience, said Amy LeGasse, who recently returned to Old Town and is unemployed. After Saturday’s brief course, she can now say she’s familiar with the equipment. Like many others at the weekend event, LeGasse signed up to take the commercial driver’s license course so she can pursue the job she’s always dreamed of.

“It’s been phenomenal,” she said of her day in the dirt pit. Not only was the hands-on experience helpful, LeGasse said, but so was the way the women, who only met one another that day, supported one another.

There are no specific requirements to participate in Women Unlimited programs, said Sher Jenkins, the group’s training coordinator. However, the group targets its offerings to those who are not making a living wage or are facing other challenges. When she interviews people who want to take a class, she looks for people who are motivated to get a job with the training they receive. Women Unlimited graduates work on road crews, operate drawbridges and drive buses. The vast majority of graduates are women, although men are welcome.