Derry Girls

Giving as good as we get

Jackie McDaid hails from Burnfoot in Donegal. She has been operating a Komatsu WA400 ADT on this job for just over a year now. This is not her first taste of dumper action as she is already a well experienced ADT operator. Before starting this job, Jackie operated a Komatsu 40-ton dump truck in Mount Newman in Western Australia. Before going Down Under she was operating dumpers in England and Scotland. She was 18 when she started and again, it was in the blood. Her family operated a quarry in Donegal, so the smell of diesel and hot exhaust fumes was something remarkably familiar.

I find her experiences in Australia to be interesting and I ask her to expand further on how that happened. “I had some friends already working over there. They were able to set me up with the company they were working for, as Irish operators have a good reputation in Australia. We were restoring a mine, so basically putting back all the material that was removed to get at the minerals. It was a fly-in, fly-out contract, so we stayed on the camp near the job three weeks straight and then got a week off.
The money was really good, and it enabled me to travel all over the country”, said Jackie. After getting home this A6 job was beginning, so she applied and was given the start. I ask her what she enjoys about being a heavy equipment operator?

“It is a job I really enjoy. You feel like you are building something, and the 12-hour day does go fast as we are so busy. Not only are you going from A to B but also C, D, E and F. You need to have your wits about you and lots of common sense. You are carrying 40 tonnes of muck in the back and travelling at 30 KPH so it is a lot of responsibility. The machines are expensive, so you must treat them with respect and you always have to expect the unexpected. I have seen people turn machines over when tipping so you need to be very careful and make sure you are on even ground”.

As Jackie is experienced, I ask her is it easy for women to get into this type of work? “I found it pretty easy to get started in the industry. I think they like having girls about. The guys accept us as part of the family, and they are all great. I think in this job there is total equality. You hear about lack of gender equality in other jobs, but here I get treated the same as everyone else and paid the exact same.

Many outside the industry view this career as for the boys only, but that is not true. We have great craic and plenty of banter, and we girls give as good as we get, there is no badness in any of the lads, some are very funny. I think any girl who is thinking of getting onto this job should just go for it”.

From stacking shelves to building roads

Gemma Mawhinney started working here in January. Before she donned the hard hat and yellow overalls, she was stacking shelves in Tesco Magherafelt. That is a big shift in working environments, and I ask Gemma to explain how that happened.

“I knew Amy and she was telling me about this job she was working on. To me it seemed really interesting and I was really looking for career change. I went and got my cards and Wills then gave me an opportunity and I started on traffic control. I then got my roller ticket, and soon enough I was operating my Bomag roller on the job. I like the job, but I am already eyeing up a seat in the ADT. I am hoping to do my dumper test shortly and then hopefully I will get an opportunity to put my skills to the test.

“I do see this as a career and there is a lot of variety. It is interesting to see how it all comes together. This time last year I had not a clue on how to build a road but now I really do know. This job without doubt beats stacking shelves in Tesco. I would strongly urge women to get into this type of work. Everyone is treated equally, and it really is like a big family. We all know each other really well and no-one looks down their nose at you. When I first came here, I only knew Amy, and it was a little daunting, but everyone was so friendly and helpful, and I think I have made new friends for life”, concluded Gemma.

Interviews finished; it was time to let the ladies back to work. I must admit I really enjoyed this assignment as it was good fun. It was also great to get an insight into how the girls operate and to get feedback on their experiences in what is perceived to be a male dominated industry. In the mainstream media we hear all the time how women are not given equality in the workplace and big discussions and column inches about the gender pay gap.

I am not denying that it does exist in some sectors of industry but what I find interesting is that in the last place you would expect to find gender equality, it was there all along. I would invite the mainstream media do a fly on the wall documentary on this job and meet the real Derry girls who smashed the glass ceiling a long time ago.