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Unusual Lineman Lives Life on the Road

September 2005 IBEW Journal

Sherry Daly is something of an anomaly in the outside utility construction industry. While women increasingly take up the construction trade as inside wiremen, and even the utility trade as linemen, the tough, cowboy atmosphere of outside construction remains dominated by men … with the exception of Daly.

At 50, Local 104 member Daly has spent her career in the IBEW crisscrossing the country, chasing good weather, high pay scales and the occasional storm. “I still go to hurricane clean-up,” she said. “You have to follow the storm.”

A Boston native who hates snow and cold weather, Daly’s career allows her to avoid frigid winters, pulling up stakes whenever it suits her and using her skills wherever she lands. A tramp guide (local union directory), her dog and a mobile home are the only constants in the rootless life of this outside construction lineman who has worked in Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Alabama, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

“I love it. It’s in my blood,” Daly said. “Even when you’re on vacation, you’re always looking up at the poles. It never leaves you.”

As for Daly, she is twice married (but only once to a lineman) and twice divorced. Her closest companion now is her Stafforsdshire terrier, Bashlin, named for her favorite industry brand of climbing and fall protection equipment. “I bought her on a Saturday and on Monday she was in a bucket truck,” Daly said.

Daly said she could not imagine a life to which she would be better suited. “You can gain the respect of the crews whether you are a man or a woman by fitting in with the construction line crew culture and doing your job like any other employee,” she said.

Daly works now for a Local 47 contractor in California.