SAVOY, Ill. (WCIA) — In August, WCIA is featuring blue-collar workers in Central Illinois. It’s commonly known as a male-dominated industry, but now, a group of women is coming together to show girls can get the job done too.
When Laura Abbott graduated from the U of I, she was excited to start her teaching career. She taught for five years in Urbana, then decided to make a career switch after volunteering at “Career Day.”
“I looked at the chart I made and I realized I could be making a lot more money and be doing a lot better for myself doing something totally different,” she said.
Back to school she went, in a different setting than she was used to. After tests and training, she was accepted into Local 149’s apprentice program in Savoy. While balancing that, she is also working on the pipes that come from the Abbott Power Plant and serve the U of I campus.
Meet the traveling plumber representing Central Illinois in a national competition “I am in charge of making sure that steam stays inside where it’s supposed to stay,” she said. “Making sure the heating systems, the water systems, the hydronics all work and stay where they’re supposed to be.”
Abbott knows the job isn’t always easy, can sometimes be dangerous and even a little isolating.
“I feel like that is where the weakness and sense of vulnerability comes in,” Abbott described.
But, she’s changing that and inspiring others who might feel the same.
“CLUW is set up to help women in labor unions, and women not in labor unions, and all their allies, better themselves,” Abbott said.
Parkland College’s trades program providing students hands-on, construction training The Coalition of Labor Unions for Women (CLUW) launched in Central Illinois just a few weeks ago and already has about 25 members.
At the end of the day, Abbott wants to inspire other women to take a leap of faith and maybe even be that person the next generation can look up to.
“You are as much or as little as you choose to be,” she said. “There is no other person, no other place that can tell you what to be and what to do.”
This is only the second CLUW chapter in the state, the only other one is near Chicago. This group includes everyone south of I-80.
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