So, you think all federal workers are scum?

So, You Think All Federal Workers Are Scum?

When you envision a Federal employee, you see someone at a desk in Washington, DC don't you? When you say they are paid too much and they are worthless, I want you to know not all of them are of that ilk. I know, because I am married to one.

Before he was a Navy shipyard pipefitter, my husband began his working life at a corn processing plant in Iowa. It was also where his grandfather, father, uncles and cousins worked. His first job was unloading feed sacks in the mill house. Hot, dirty, nasty work with some "grease the shoot" hazing in the beginning. And dangerous for some. Accidents occurred, with big ones like dust explosions always on everyone's mind each day, whether you are at work or not.

In 1974 he got an apprenticeship. Not the one he wanted. He really wanted to be an electrician, but that apprenticeship was snapped up by someone else. His second choice was to be a pipefitter. That was his choice. His uncle was one, having completed his apprenticeship at Clinton Corn also.

Journeymen always work with an apprentice. That is how they learn the trade. This corn plant made their own energy through steam. Miles and miles of piping, all needing to be improved and maintained. There were potential accidents in this profession too. He found that out one day when they were testing a run of pipe that had just been welded. Just the day before he had shaved off his beard for the summer---and a good thing too. Water came rushing through the pipe as they looked for leaks. What began as cold water heated immediately to scalding water headed right for his face. Someone yelled, and his instincts took over, turning his head just in time. It only hit one side of his face, not full on. He could have been blinded, or worse. I remember him coming home in the middle of the day that day. An electric shock of dread ran through me as I saw him brought home by a co-worker. His face already red from the burns. Miracles do happen, as he can attest. He was young and he healed with no scars, and he was able to go back to work after a few weeks of sick leave and daily slathering of burn medication.

Four long years of classes, on the job training, and he got his journeyman's card. Providence was smiling on us that he got it, because Reagan was in office and the Republicans were bent on union busting. They succeeded in breaking the Grain Miller's union at the plant in 1979. The handwriting was on the wall, and since he was a journeyman, he thought he could get on with the steam and pipefitter's union. No, you have to "know someone" and be willing to give up your first born for that to happen. So, with no job, all he could do was be a temporary worker for a construction company. More experience, much higher pay, but no future with that.

1980, and volcanoes and shipyards in Washington state were booming. Washington was my 'home' and I was thrilled to be moving back to be near family again. No daily tornado watches, just ash and rumbling from Mt. St. Helens. We thought it was a fair trade-off.

The pipefitters in Shop 56 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1980 thought anyone from Iowa must be a hapless moron, and so they put him to work making copper funnels. They wasted his time and their own with that little endeavor, but he soon was accepted by his co-workers and they came to respect, not deride, his skills and ambition.

Skip ahead to 2006. He has a folder full of awards, including employee of the year for the pipe shop a few years ago. He is an asset to the shop with his fundamental knowledge and experience in general pipefitting, as well as a special knowledge of waveguide installation on ships. He has traveled to Japan to "fix" the Kitty Hawk, and to each coast to maintain ships in California and Virginia. He has worked for the Navy for twenty-six years now. Hard, dangerous work as a nuclear pipefitter for a few years, and the remainder as a pipefitter mechanic on non-nuclear ships and their systems. Daily, he too puts up with micro-managers and white hat morons with no practical experience in his trade telling him how to do his job.

Age is taking its toll on him and the mechanics in the shop. Not only the work they must complete, but the cumulative age for many of the workers in the shop is reaching the time for retirement. It takes years to learn everything and have the experience to work on their own.

When you gripe and whine about more money going to the military, you should remember some things:

¨      Federal workers have little or no bargaining rights.

¨      They cannot strike, it would be treasonous.

Not all jobs are glamorous, but downright dangerous as this one is. People like my husband go to work each day to not only earn a wage and pay the bills, but to keep your country, and your sons and daughters on Navy ships, safe and effective. I hope if you have read this far that you will never look at all civil service workers in a poor light again.