Plumbing Apprenticeship
Program, Local 38
Organized Labor
May 2009
Maria Bowden: “I’m related to a lot of people here. Valadez is my maiden name. We’re a family of steamfitters and plumbers, Local 38. I’ve been doing this my whole life. This is what my parents raised me to do. They would take me along on remodeling jobs, and at home my grandfather was in the garage welding. That’s what we do. The hardest thing is waiting to be turned out. I am aspiring to hold up the family name, the same as my father and brothers. I’m doing plumbing right now, and maybe later I’ll get into steam fitting.”