This interview is conducted in two parts. Part I discusses Chapman’s early years in Wisconsin, graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1931 during the Depression. In 1934 a college fraternity brother asked Chapman to help him out with the…
This interview covers Al Church’s early years with the AFSCME. Church entered the service in 1942 and was discharged in 1946. He returned to Hibbing, MN and took a managerial position with a construction company until he found employment with the…
Sara Willis is an electrician at the Chrysler Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. Willis grew up in Grand Rapids and moved to Detroit in the early 1980’s to care for her ailing grandmother. She applied for the Local 58 electrical apprenticeship at the…
J.W. is a metal model maker and a trainer with the UAW. Born and raised in Flint, MI J.W. went to work on the line at Delphi East in the mid 1970’s. She worked on the line for 10 years, took the skilled trades test and scored very high. J.W. chose…
In this interview Carrie Wells, a tile setter from Detroit recalls how she entered the tile setting trade after attending college and working in a radio station. Wells explains the apprenticeship program’s mandate to accept women and minorities and…
Jola Stone attended art school and worked in the engineering and drafting departments of Consumers Power in Grand Rapids, MI before a friend referred her to an opening at MichCon (now DTE). Stone was the first women hired into the drafting…
Terri Patterson is a structural ironworker with Ironworkers Local 25 and a third generation Native American ironworker. In this interview Terri describes the apprentice program and the classes. Many of her male relatives are in the field and she…
Pat Nuznov is an electrician with IBEW-International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58 Detroit. In 1978, thanks to President Carter and affirmative action, Nuznov applied for and was accepted into IBEW Local 58’s apprenticeship program.…
T.M., a non-union roofer and general contractor, was born and raised in Trenton, MI. T.M. got into the construction trade at age 18 after buying a house, realizing she could not afford to hire help she learned how to do the repair work herself. At…
Sue Jantschak is a business agent with the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights. After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in veterinary technology and working in that field for thirteen years Sue developed…