Women in trades building 'sisterhood' by sharing knowledge, experience

A group meant to connect Edmonton women working in trades has amassed about 800 members in a matter of weeks.

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Morgan Bosch, a mobile crane operator, says she was inspired to start YEG Blue Collar Women about two months ago after attending the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference in New Orleans.

"We have a committee within our union, which is great, but I wanted to bring it on a bigger scale," she said.

She began her trades career nine years ago as a labourer, wanting a job that would give her financial security – a common theme amongst the women CTV News Edmonton spoke to.

But she was frequently the only woman on a work site and sometimes overlooked because of her gender.

"There's a lot of sites that I drive off to where I'm the only crane operator on site and I'll pull up and they ask me, 'Where's the crane operator?'" she told CTV News Edmonton. "I definitely have to prove myself every day."

As the number of women she works alongside increases, so does the need for knowledge sharing and community.

"I can go to this group and say, 'Hey, I'm struggling with this. Do you guys have any tips and tricks?'" welder Kimberly McLean told CTV News Edmonton during an interview at the beginning of November, when YEG Blue Collar Women met for a walk in Edmonton's river valley.

"They've been there. They've done that. They know how to work around the system and how to do things easier and make it so that we're just as successful as the men."

Skye de Groot, another welder, said of recently completing her journeyman, "They were the ones who reached out to me and gave me knowledge and books and information that I don't think I would have passed without."

"I've been doing this for 20 years and when I started, there was nothing like this…. We just kind of fended for ourselves," McLean added.

"We're a team. We've got each other's backs. We're a sisterhood."

The group doesn't only talk about work. They have planned to get together for craft activities and a networking event at NAIT.

They also encourage other girls and women to pursue trades careers if they're interested.

"It's such good money and especially some of them are only three, four years of schooling. So what's three to four years of your life?" Bosch asked.

"I love the satisfaction of going to work every day and building something and completing it," McLean told CTV News Edmonton. "I can look back and say, 'Hey, I built that building,' or 'Hey, I helped to build that project or worked on that refinery,' and I have a sense of accomplishment when I'm finished a project."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa and Darcy Seaton