Now hard at work at one of the most high-profile construction sites in the country, it is hard to imagine that it took Megan Morley so long to find her true calling.
Having spent 13 years in retail in a job she liked – but which carried no benefits or a chance to move up the ladder – Sister Morley finally decided to accept her operator father’s advice and join him as a member of Local 793.
She said, “I’d always see people running equipment and think that it was so cool, but I never thought it would be for me. But once I got into a machine and started going through the apprentice training process at the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) I felt like a kid in a sandbox and never looked back.”
Taking a break from her role operating a Brokk demolition machine for Marathon Underground at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the eight-year member admits that as a woman weighing up a career in the trades there were certain pressures and expectations in her own mind she had to get over before she was able to take the leap.
“I wasn’t sure of myself and if I could do it. There was also the perception of society too -like would anyone ever want to date me if I was an operator or date a girl who was covered in mud? Those are things I would tell myself before I tried it and the fact is that it’s not true at all.”
Now heading towards nine years as a member of Local 793, Sister Morley says her experiences on the job have been overwhelmingly positive.
“There is always going to be ‘that person’. But I haven’t received any more pushback than I would have doing anything else in life. There’s always going to be ribbing on a jobsite, whether you’re a man or a woman, but, to be honest, if you’re not being ribbed, it means they don’t like you.”
Megan has also felt the “Union difference” on the jobsite.
“The very few times that I’ve had difficulty with people at work has been with non-Union people. Having that Union backing makes a huge difference – the mentality is different and people feel more taken care of. Ever since day one with the Union I’ve felt that bond and, as I’ve worked non-Union jobs before, I know the difference.”
