women working in gillette wyoming mines (how much, school, cost)

[inthewest]

Hi -

Is there a lot of gender-based descrimination in gillette, as far as jobs go?

I was wondering where women worked (for GOOD pay) in Gellette wyoming? Do they work in the coal mines also? (doing "guy" work?) Or in the other energy sectors?

Someone told me that men with no experience (but can pass a drug test and have a good drivers record) can get a $20 + an hour job starting off in the mines. He thought that women would be hired also, but I was not sure how realistic he was being, considering the working conditions in the mines, and most peoples attitudes tword women in a traditional guy job.

If women can get on there, does anyone know how much hourly they get?

Thanks for any info anyone has.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by inthewest

Hi -

Is there a lot of gender-based descrimination in gillette, as far as jobs go?

I was wondering where women worked (for GOOD pay) in Gellette wyoming? Do they work in the coal mines also? (doing "guy" work?) Or in the other energy sectors?

Someone told me that men with no experience (but can pass a drug test and have a good drivers record) can get a $20 + an hour job starting off in the mines. He thought that women would be hired also, but I was not sure how realistic he was being, considering the working conditions in the mines, and most peoples attitudes tword women in a traditional guy job.

If women can get on there, does anyone know how much hourly they get?

Thanks for any info anyone has.

That's not entirely true. It's traditionally a guy job because that's all that apply. Out of 50 applicants, you'll have 2 females. They get hired right along side of the guys.

I was working the mines in 1974 and we had women driving 100 ton coal trucks. They did a fine job.

If the job pays $25 an hour, then the recipient of the job gets $25 an hour. Regardless of gender.

[sixofone]

Elkhunter is right on the money. I recently visited a Gilette mine and there were a number of women operators. You'll do the exact same work and get the same pay. All they care about is whether or not you can do the job.

[imbobbbb]

a couple of my cousins step-daughters work at the mines driving haul trucks

[NVDave]

In the gold mines in Nevada, which are also open-pit mines like the coal mines around Gilette, there are women running haul trucks. Some are miner's wives, some are single moms, some are retired gals. They do it because the pay is good.

They get paid the same as the men, about $18/hour to start, with an increase after the six month probationary period. You need to pass a drug test (and they'll use both urine and hair samples), you need to be able to get your MSHA card, and you need to have a clean driving record. If you have a DUI on your record, don't bother applying. The mines have a hard enough time keeping a safe and drug-free person running these trucks that they don't get too picky about what sort of plumbing the person has.

You won't see many women in the mechanics' jobs, because most women don't possess the experience or the physical strength for those jobs. Everything on a mine site is heavy, and the mechanics have a tough, tough job, and so they make more than the truck drivers, but do they ever earn it.

There are women in the white collar jobs at mines I know in Nevada - mining engineer, environmental compliance, regulatory compliance, HR, etc.

Highest paying jobs at mines are usually in management or for very senior miners in underground mining operations.

So if you're interested in driving a haul truck, it's there for you. What you have to deal with more than anything else is driving a huge piece of machinery in circles all day (and when your night shift comes, all night) long. If you get bored easily, you might go nuts, because the work becomes very monotinous. It is the same thing, every trip, every shift, every week, every month. And the trucks have monitors in them so that the company knows if you did something out of pattern - slowed down, went too fast, etc.

[ElkHunter]

I think it's a troll trying to start crap. Why would we hire women? Well, because there's jobs available. Give me a break. Wyoming, the Equality state.

[NVDave]

I was wondering the same thing, but I reckoned that even other women are surprised as heck to see their friends driving a haul truck. They look at this little gal, about 5'0" hop down outta that truck and they ask their girlfriend "How do you do it?!"

The gal driving the truck, of course, is wondering what the heck her friends are talking about. The trucks have power steering, power brakes, retarders, automatic transmissions, a computer-controlled diesel engine, computer monitoring on everything from bearing temperatures to the transmission, six-way adjustable air-ride seats, stereo systems, satellite radio for your entertainment, air conditioning, heating, a roomy cab, etc, etc, etc... and on some sites the computer is alerting Caterpillar back in Illinois via a satellite feed that there is a malfunction on the rig, so you as a driver don't need to worry about listening or observing the gauges, only making sure that you don't run on a flat tire, because tires cost (last I knew) about $25,000 each.

The only thing the truck needs is a set of eyes on the road, two feet on the pedals, one hand on the wheel, one on the retarder or shift lever, and a pair of buttocks in the seat. Oh, and a brain that won't doze off by getting bored.

Personally, I'd rather rub cow poop in my hair than drive a haul truck. I can't imagine making it past the first week without being bored outta my skull.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by NVDave

I was wondering the same thing, but I reckoned that even other women are surprised as heck to see their friends driving a haul truck. They look at this little gal, about 5'0" hop down outta that truck and they ask their girlfriend "How do you do it?!"

The gal driving the truck, of course, is wondering what the heck her friends are talking about. The trucks have power steering, power brakes, retarders, automatic transmissions, a computer-controlled diesel engine, computer monitoring on everything from bearing temperatures to the transmission, six-way adjustable air-ride seats, stereo systems, satellite radio for your entertainment, air conditioning, heating, a roomy cab, etc, etc, etc... and on some sites the computer is alerting Caterpillar back in Illinois via a satellite feed that there is a malfunction on the rig, so you as a driver don't need to worry about listening or observing the gauges, only making sure that you don't run on a flat tire, because tires cost (last I knew) about $25,000 each.

The only thing the truck needs is a set of eyes on the road, two feet on the pedals, one hand on the wheel, one on the retarder or shift lever, and a pair of buttocks in the seat. Oh, and a brain that won't doze off by getting bored.

Personally, I'd rather rub cow poop in my hair than drive a haul truck. I can't imagine making it past the first week without being bored outta my skull.

Well, you got a point. Course, at $25 an hour, you can drive a lot of truck and not rub much poop. hahaha

[NVDave]

I've got a buddy who is a retired farmer who is driving haul trucks in Nevada. He's bored out of his skull. Management loves him and the other retired or former farmers driving trucks because they're very easy on the equipment.

Every farmer who has driven a haul truck hates every minute of it. It is boring beyond belief. In farming, there's a new emergency every single day. You get up in the morning with plans of what you're going to do that day - you think you've got it all in hand. And by 9am, your plans are out the window, in the trash can, something or someone decided you had something more pressing your schedule that day. When you've been doing that for years, getting into the same truck every day for 10 to 12 hours, and driving the same circuit through the mine every single time... it gets old. Real old.

And to add to this boredom, listening to other people driving the trucks complaining about the most mundane crap on the two-way radio drives guys like my buddy up a wall. There are so many days he wants to open the mike and yell "Unless the engine is on fire, or the transmission just stripped a gear, shut the (*&*&^ up and do your job!"

'cuz that's the farmers' perspective on that sort of thing.

[inthewest]

NVDAVE - Thanks for the info. Do you need to go to trade school to get hired as a haul-truck driver? Ive got book tapes to keep me sane doing boring things.