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Organized Labor
Women Building California Conference 2008
Vicki Cruz

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Forty-four year veteran painter and Local 16 member Vicki Cruz has only one year left until retirement. “It was tough back then when I started,” she recalled. “There were few women even in the painters union. Sticking with it and hanging in there is the name of the game. If you can hang, you’ll do well. It’s a lot easier now for women and men too. When women came in, a lot of the personal harassment stopped. A lot of the men had felt they had to play along with the game and do what they were told. But when we started standing up, they realized they could too. A lot of men have told me how thankful they are. There is still harassment, but now we can do something about it. And the clothing really improved too.”
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