Organized Labor

Building Cable Cars at the Woods Carpentry Shop

By Richard Bermack
Contributing Writer

Along with the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf, cable cars are San Francisco icons. This month we went to the Woods carpentry shop to talk with the workers who build and rehab them. Bob Harris, the shop supervisor, has worked on cable cars for over 30 years. “We have different tools today, but we accomplish the same thing, and the cars are pretty much the same,” he says. Many of the cars are over 100 years old, imbuing those who work on them with a sense of tradition and craftsmanship. “We are building moving historical monuments. They are pieces of art,” comments carpenter David Valstad.

The workers create every piece that makes up the car. They have a room filled with century-old patterns that they use to mill the wooden pieces or fabricate the metal ones, sending them out to a foundry. They recently hired a pattern maker, He Du, to maintain and update the patterns.

by Richard Bermack
Contributing Writer

In his 20 years of installing floor coverings, Anthony Putnam has torn up a lot of floors he had put down to replace them with the newest style. “The tenants have changed and now they want something new,” he says. When they pull up the old floor, they often find messages written on the back of the carpet or tile.

What do the messages say? “I can’t repeat it,” Dave Ahern, a frequent message writer, says with a laugh. But it’s one way to relieve job frustrations. Ahern comes from a family of union carpet layers, he states, stressing “union.” Has the trade changed much since his father’s time? “The craft is pretty similar except they expect a lot more yardage from you today. And the products aren’t as good as they used to be. The glues, for example. They take out the stuff that’s bad for you, which is good, but the product doesn’t always work as well.”

By Richard Bermack
Contributing Writer

From the outside, "glass is the thing that holds a building together and makes it stand out," says glazier Adrian Pereira. When you're inside, glass windows make all the difference between feeling like you're in a dark cave or feeling like you're in a visually pleasing environment. Glazing is a specialty trade, and glass is an unforgiving media. Everything must be plumb and square and exact, as glazier Alex Miranda explains while crawling around the floor checking every plane with his level.

by Richard Bermack
Contributing Writer

Elevator constructors are a cross between coal miners and custom car mechanics. They work in dark, narrow shafts, but instead of descending deep into the earth, they ascend to the top of skyscrapers. In that narrow space they build a high performance car that transports passengers safely from floor to floor, up and down a hoistway. And as with coal mining, working in a cramped, dark environment makes elevator construction a dangerous occupation. “You are trusting your life to the people you work with,” temporary mechanic Michael Knight explains. “The person above you, below you, to the side of you, any screw-up can have repercussions.”

Pile Drivers: Extreme Construction

by Richard Bermack,
Contributing Writer

We work with the limits of the building trades,” states journeyman pile driver Daxz Sweeney. “It doesn’t get any messier, muddier, more technical, or more dangerous.” “Pile butts” build everything from bridges to high rise foundations to freeways. They dive underwater, excavate into the earth, and dangle from cables 150 feet in the air. They pour concrete, weld steel, and assemble cranes. And the most important thing, for foreman Dennis Garland, is that they do it safely, and that no one gets hurt. Organized Labor interviewed Pile Drivers Local 34 members working for Manson Construction at berth 35 of the Port of Oakland. They were upgrading a container dock so that it can accommodate the next generation of giant container cranes and super freighters.