When most people think of what an IBEW member looks like, they will likely envision a lineman or wireman, someone whose skill level is widely respected. A team of three women members from Tacoma, Wash., Local 483 have just that, and they prove it repeatedly. They just aren’t lineworkers or wirewomen.
“A lot of people don’t realize that the IBEW represents more than just electricians,” said Local 483 member Sami Pielak, who, like her teammates, is a water service worker for Tacoma Water. “The IBEW is huge, and I think the more the merrier. There’s more power in numbers, right?”
Pielak, Sarah Degidio and Jessa Messer are Grit City Grind, a nationally recognized team that has competed in the American Water Works Association’s annual pipe tapping competition for the last four years and has yet to place lower than second.
“We’re dedicated, committed to improving and stubborn as hell,” said Jessa Messer. “We’re kind of badasses — and we’re proud of that, as well as each other.”
This year’s competition, which took place in June in Washington, D.C., has a women’s category as well as a men’s. The Grit City Grind team came in second, after taking the top prize in the last two contests. One penalty, an instance of miscommunication, kept them from having the fastest run time and taking first place for the third year in a row.
Like any IBEW member striving for excellence and never backing down, taking second this year only gives them more education and experience that they’ll take with them for 2027.
“We’ll approach next year’s competition just like we have every other year. We’re always looking for ways to be better, get faster, shave off mere seconds, and that won’t change,” Messer said.
Competing again next year also means more top-level representation for Local 483 and the IBEW.
“We appreciate the support we get from our union, especially being able to gain exposure through [Electrical Worker] articles like this,” Pielak said. “We’d love to see more women’s teams compete. Maybe someone reading this will get inspired and join us.”
While winning may be the best thing to come out of competing, Pielak, Degidio and Messer noted the sense of solidarity between the women’s teams.
“The solidarity is there because we work in a male-dominated industry. We’re a small group of people in a big industry and I think that brings us together at competitions,” Messer said. “Even though not all the female competitors work out in the field like we do, there is still that connection as women, executing this task at a competitive level.”
The Grit City Grinders are quick to share that they get a lot of support from the men who coach them, as well as other men in the competition. But being women in a male-dominated field, in a profession not often featured in their union, leaves a lot of people in the dark about what they do.
“I would like people to understand that this is a small snapshot of work we do in a competition setting with ideal conditions,” Messer said. “The reality is that we do pipe and dirt work in less-than-ideal conditions every day for our jobs. We work in the rain, snow and heat.
“We are also a 24-hour, seven-days-a week, 365 days a year operation, so just because we compete two times a year indoors on carpet in a clean environment, our foundational knowledge and skills come from the 12th hour in a muddy, water-filled hole at 3 a.m. where we do our best each day to keep the water flowing for our customers. We are proud of that work, and each one of us loves what we do.”
