Zandra John is a 28-year-old union tiler from Flatbush, Brooklyn. But her mother always wanted her to be a teacher.
Three years after earning a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with a minor in English, John was unable to re-enroll in her program because she was behind on her tuition fees. She already owed $ 5,000 in student loans and was making $ 12 an hour (about $ 25,000 per year) as a teacher’s assistant.
While she loved working with children and liked the idea of becoming an English or special needs teacher, her job as an assistant assistant had no benefits and she relied on Medicaid and food stamps.
“I love kids so much, but I felt like something was missing. I wasn’t really doing what I wanted to do,” says John. “And while I wanted to finish school I knew that $ 12 an hour wouldn’t pay off my loans, it wouldn’t help me pay my tuition, it really wouldn’t do much but help me make ends meet. just on the internet. ”
She googled high-paying positions and found herself looking at construction jobs. She quickly thought of her father.
“My dad was a carpenter, he worked at the train stations. And that’s where I really started to fall in love with building things, fixing things around the house. I would always help him. I wanted to have a career in that field, but I wasn’t sure. if I could, “says John.” It’s a male-dominated field. And usually they don’t want women there. “
Now John earns about $ 32 an hour as a tile apprentice. She expects to earn about $ 70,000 in overtime this year and is working towards becoming a journeyman, making $ 61 an hour in her union, about $ 126,880 a year.
“Going from $ 12 an hour to $ 32 an hour is a huge difference to me,” she says. ‘I can save more. I can help my mother more. ‘
Getting the job
John’s first step into construction was enrolling in a free 7-week training program at Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) – a New York-based organization that prepares, trains and places women in skilled construction, utility and maintenance services.
“That was really the start of a completely different journey for me. I would do TA during the day and get out of there and go straight to NEW,” she recalls.
In June 2018, she graduated from the program and embarked on an eight-week pre-internship program in tile setting that led to an official internship. She says she was attracted to the program because it combined her interest in construction with her artistic hobbies.
“One reason I love tiles is that tiles and art have a connection. Often it is like a mural when we hang tiles. We make a lot of murals. We made a mural with flowers. We made a cloud. We did a mural in LaGuardia, ”she says. “I love art, so I love the fact that I can process two things that I love.”
Zandra John mixes cement
A day at work
John is of course the first to say that installing tiles is not a relaxing hobby. The job can include long days of difficult and dangerous physical labor. She describes an accident where a pile of bathroom stalls fell on her while tiling a bathroom floor.
She also says that harassment is common.
“They were kind of hard on me on my first day, I’m not going to lie. Being the only woman at work, it can get weird sometimes because the guys are scared to say ‘Good morning’, or they stare at you,” says John. Sometimes guys make little comments like, ‘Oh, why did you want to do this? Shouldn’t you be home? ‘
A typical day starts at around 5:45 am. Her commute to Manhattan takes approximately 40 minutes. John says she arrives at her around 6:45 AM and work usually starts between 7:00 AM and 7:15 AM
“When I come in, I go to work. I go to my gang boss and get my tools,” she says. “I grab my mill, make sure I have my water, make sure my wet saw is on and I get on my dock.”
Tasks may include cutting tiles with a saw, mixing “mud” used to level floors, laying tiles, or grouting between tiles.
The team will have a coffee break around 9 am and a lunch break around noon. The day usually ends around 3pm, unless the team is working overtime, which can last into the evening.
Occasionally, work continues on weekends, which is often welcomed as employees earn overtime.
“Saturday is a time and a half. Sunday is a double. But sometimes they don’t tell you that we work on weekends,” says John.[Managers] give work to people they like or their friends. They do. So you have to work around it. ”
Her trick to making sure she’s aware of possible weekend work is to say “ see you tomorrow ” on Fridays and gauge people’s reactions. Then she just shows up.
“I was working at LaGuardia Airport once and they were kind of funny,” recalls John. After I suspected there would be weekend work, ”I got there [on Saturday] and the foreman laughed, “Did you really come?” I’m like, ‘Yes, I’m coming!’
“I’m going to show you”
While John loves to work in construction and appreciates the health and retirement benefits she gets from being part of her union, she says women – and women of color especially – can face challenges at work.
“It’s hard to be a woman in construction, but being a black woman in construction is really hard to do,” she says. ‘They draw things in the bathroom. They put something like Trump stuff or N word stuff. Or they drew a picture of a monkey or things like that. They even had Nazi stuff in the bathroom while I was at LaGuardia. ”
She continues: “Some people really go out of their way to make you feel uncomfortable. I do not understand why.’
John says she is grateful to have found allies and mentors who supported her during her apprenticeship, and learned to ignore passing comments.
“I’ve met some great guys in the union. When I’m not working, they pick me up, they talk to me, they ask me if I’m okay, or if I need something,” she says. But some guys try to break your pork chops on purpose just to make you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes they want to make you feel uncomfortable – like you don’t belong here. ‘
“But I want to be here, so I’m going to show you that I belong here.”
Do you have a creative or non-traditional career path? We would love to hear from you! Fill out this form to be considered for a future episode of “On the Job.”
Do not miss: