Out of nearly 2,500 iron and steel worker apprentices registered in California, 70 are women. That’s too few, says Rocio Campos, a single mother of two from Los Angeles County who today works as an ironworker after completing four years of an apprenticeship.
She took a long and twisted path to her career, she said. She worked on an ambulance crew, trained and worked at drafting and design, and studied criminal justice — all to earn enough to support her family. She even worked in a liquor store before discovering she liked welding at a class she took at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster.
In addition to her weekday class, Rocio was allowed to practice welding there on Saturdays. An instructor for the Ironworkers Local 433 union noticed her work and eventually signed her on as an apprentice. It took four more years of classwork, homework, full-time work and certification tests every few months before Campos became a tradesperson.
Ironwork provides plenty of creativity and enough income to support her family, says Campos, 36. She plans to go back to school to advance in construction.
The industry could do more outreach, she said, to be more accessible to women and others traditionally ignored by trade unions.
I spoke with her about her career journey. Her comments were edited for length and clarity.
When did you graduate from apprentice to journeyman?
The graduation was in September. There were 79 people, all of them guys and I was the only girl. There were other girls that started. They just dropped out through the process.
You have to really know how to manage your money (to make it through the program). And also, they don’t want to put in the work to get your certifications … It’s like, you go to work, you have to do some homework, and you’ve still got to go to the shop and get your certifications. It’s a lot of work.
What are pay and benefits like?
Now we start off at $25 or $24 — something like that — and we’re topping out at $49 after four years. We get medical, dental, vision. We have an annuity. We have a pension.
What kinds of projects have you worked on?
I’ve done windmills. I’ve worked at the SoFi Stadium (in Inglewood). There’s this other stadium that we just built (for the Los Angeles Clippers), the Intuit Dome. I worked there. I did a retrofit at the Martin Luther King Hospital. The Purple Line underground. I’m currently working at a roller coaster in Universal Studios.
I like the fact that there’s diversity. If I want to find something better, if I don’t feel safe, if I don’t feel comfortable, then there’s always an option to go to the next job.
How did you get started in ironworking?
In our culture women don’t do construction. I ended up finding out about the union when I was taking a little welding class and I met the guys from the union. They started talking to me about it and I was like, “Well, you know, there’s no women in construction.” They’re like, “That’s the thing: We’re trying to get women in construction.”
It’s not like you can just get in. It’s not easy like that … You fill in the application, and then you start calling companies. They have to ensure that you’re going to have work for about six weeks to two months, and then they agree to sponsor you. They give you a list. I called every company and, yeah, nobody wants to sponsor you.
Why not? What did they say to you?
“We don’t think you’re gonna make it,” pretty much. I’m small. I’m 5-feet-nothing. So they’re like, “Yeah, that’s not gonna work.”
I ended up working for a couple of months in the shop, but not in the actual union. And then there was this big job, and they needed to man it up. I was already on the list, and they ended up hiring directly from the applications. So the union sponsored me for that big job that they had.
What are you most proud of?
I love the windmills. They are the most fun to build. Windmills are just cans that you stack up. There’s either three sections or five sections and then an engine that’s like (the size of) a bus. It’s pretty much just stacking cans on top of each other and then building a cell. If the cell is done already, it can take us two or three days to build one.
Was there a time when your shortness came in handy?
Absolutely. There’s spots sometimes that we have to get to, where these big guys say, “Hey, can you get in there?” Sometimes we’ve had to go under a cell and fix something.
Were there times when being a woman was a disadvantage?
Women being in the trade is still very new. A lot of times they’ll look down on you. You just have to prove yourself more than everybody else.
They’re very concerned about lawsuits, sexual harassment, so they’re going to be tiptoeing around you for the first couple weeks until they figure out … what’s gonna offend you. A lot of times they don’t want to talk to you because you’re a woman.
What advice would you give a woman starting off as you did?
Just be professional. I like them knowing that they have boundaries with me, so I’m not going to let them be flirty or make certain comments. Just set your boundaries from the beginning.
Have you ever felt unsafe? What did you do?
It happened once where I didn’t feel safe with the person that I was working with just because they did things not in the right way. I was actually putting up windmills. It was definitely not safe. But I was lucky enough to have a friend working there (who) was one of the higher-ups. I was switched to a different crew, and that person ended up getting fired for some other unsafe things that they did.
Are you planning to stick with ironwork?
Yeah, I’m sticking with it. I actually want to go and take more schooling. My plan is to finish up the welding certifications that I have right now. You have to retest for a year after you get your LA city certification.
Then I want to go to college. I like ironwork, but I don’t want to do it physically for the rest of my life. So just keep going with my career, go to college, get a degree and stay in construction, but more in upper management. Though it’s fun working out there and learning how things are built.
What’s the hardest obstacle to overcome?
I’m worried about the way that people are going to perceive you. A guy can show up to a job site and be like, “Hey, I know how to be up there.” They see you as a woman and they’re like, “Yeah, we’re not sending her up in the air to do anything. We’re going to keep her on the ground.” You want to get the full experience. When I’m doing anything that’s a little dangerous, that’s supposed to be just for a man to do, everybody’s watching.
You have to have really thick skin, but it’s definitely worth it. There’s so many single moms now, and we need to make the same amount of money that men can make.
Financial support for this story was provided by the Smidt Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation.