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Organized Labor
December 2007
Carpenters Local 22
Bob Harris

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BobHarris

 

Bob Harris Carpenter Supervisor, 30 years
It’s not like you just get here and can build a cable car. You may be a journeyman carpenter, but you have to serve an apprenticeship here too. It’s similar to furniture building.

I like to fix the cars that got in a wreck. It’s a challenge putting them back together. My favorites were the ones other people thought were totaled. It’s like being a doctor and mending something that is broken. The cars haul up to 100 people a day and take a lot of abuse.

When we work on a car, we pull off the front panel. Then just before we put the panel back on, we’ll sign our names and put in newspapers from the era, like a time capsule. It’s a tradition going on from before I got here. Everyone takes a lot of pride in what they do here and feels fortunate to have a job like this. Only nine carpenters in the world build these cars.

The cable cars have become a part of my life. They are environmentally sound. They don’t use gas or diesel. My kids do reports on cable cars and bring their classes down for a tour. I take a fancy to old stuf, and the kids do too.

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