Every year, rank-and-file Teamsters from across North America come together for the Teamsters Women’s Conference to share their experiences, learn from one another, and talk about the issues shaping their workplaces. This year’s conference was held in Washington, D.C., August 23–26, bringing 1,500 members together for four days of discussion, trainings, and organizing.
During the closing plenary, a panel of Teamsters women working in non-traditional industries took the stage to talk about what it takes to succeed in workplaces where women have historically been underrepresented — and why having more women at the table makes the Teamsters Union stronger. Below is their full conversation.
Moderator: Erin Foley, Teamsters Local 2
Panel participants of rank-and-file Teamsters: Teresa Gavina, Teamster with Republic Services; Darice Gilliam, Teamster with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET); Andrea Marshall, Teamster in the pipeline industry; and Carrie Jones, Teamster with Cassens Transport.
Erin Foley: We have a large group of women here who are very excited and nervous to be on stage. So, I’m going to start with the hardest question first. Tell us who you are and where you work and what your job is.
Carrie Jones: My name is Carrie Jones. I work in Detroit as a carhauler for Cassens Transport Company. I have five kids — two boys and three girls. I’m really laid back, but I just really enjoy my job.
Darice Gilliam: I’m Darice Gilliam. I’m a locomotive engineer. I’ve worked on the railroad for 31 and a half years. I’m a wife. I’ve been married 30 years. I have three children. My youngest daughter is with me today, and I’m very happy. Oh, one more thing! I’m the very first Arizona State Legislative Board Chairman in the BLET.
Andrea Marshall: I am Andrea Marshall. I am out of Teamsters Local 697 in Wheeling, West Virginia. I work with Eastern National Pipeline. My girls are out there [in the crowd]. I’ve been a pipeliner for seven years, and I love my job.
Teresa Gavina: My name is Teresa Gavina. I’m originally from Mexico. I immigrated to the U.S. I’m a mother of three. I work for Republic Services as a trash truck driver on the residential side.
Erin: Tell us, what first brought you into this line of work, and did you know at the time that it could become a real career for you?
Carrie: I had come out of a very long-term job in retail, and I knew I did not want to do that ever again. I got to a point where I just hated people, and I didn’t want to be like that. So, my husband, who is my absolute biggest cheerleader, he convinced me and encouraged me to do what I wanted to do. And at the time, I thought, well, I want to be a truck driver. My grandpa was a truck driver. My dad was a truck driver. So, I really wanted to do that. I went to school for my CDL. Every day they had some company come in and tell us a little bit about their company and try to recruit new drivers. You know, I was so disheartened at first because they would be like, “Oh, you have to bring a video game with you because you could be sitting at a dock for three hours.” And my ADD would not allow for that. So, a couple guys came in from Cassens, and they said, “If you are afraid of heights, don’t bother. If you don’t want to work in every weather condition, don’t bother. If you can’t walk one to five miles a day, don’t bother. But if you would like to make a lot of money, come see me.” It was a Teamsters job, so the benefits were amazing, and now there’s a pension waiting for me. From that point on, I was determined to make it a career. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Darice: I’m a second-generation railroader. My dad was a locomotive engineer. He retired in 2010. I always knew it was a good job. It afforded my mom to be able to stay home with the kids. I actually stuck with it, especially when I found out about the strong Teamsters retirement.
Andrea: Well, I guess I am probably the most non-traditional one here. I had no aspirations at all to be a truck driver or a pipeliner. I was a bartender and then I decided I was done with that life after 23 years. I was fortunate enough to fall into the pipeline industry. I had no idea what it meant. I had no idea what I was going to be doing, but the pipeline bug bit me quickly. I fell absolutely head over heels in love with my job. I drive every day. I basically haul rock product supplies away and up to support pipeline construction.
Teresa: For me, it was honestly the great health care that got me into the job. I was tired of only working contract jobs for less than a year. I was a school bus driver before, and I needed more money. I was tired having to work three jobs to take care of my kids. So, that’s what brought me into the Teamsters. I applied for a lot of jobs and I got rejected nine times, but I kept going and eventually I got into a great union job.
Erin: What is commonly misunderstood about your industry?
Carrie: I think the most common misconception, or the biggest question I get, is who puts the cars onto these carhauler trucks for you? Like, people don’t assume it’s me doing the work. It is absolutely me. But people don’t understand. Like, you know, they see us driving down the highway, and they’re probably annoyed because it’s mandated that I drive at 65 miles per hour. But I do it all. I’m trained in weight distribution. The cars that we haul on these trucks — it has to be a certain length, a certain height, and you need to know all the [Department of Transportation] regulations. The safety aspect of it is just crazy because you’re climbing on the truck like a spider monkey in the rain, the snow, ice. A lot of times we unload these cars on the side of the road. So, I’ll be in the middle of a five-lane road and my tires are on both the yellow lines, and I still have to walk around the truck. People do not like that. They pay very little attention. It’s just that people don’t see what goes on behind the scenes in an industry like this. To get from Point A to Point B, to maneuver through small parking lots, and to stay in hotels most nights. It’s a grind. It’s a demanding job. And you can’t just go to any hotel. You have to find a hotel that will accommodate an 80-foot truck. It’s not easy sometimes.
Darice: What’s most misunderstood about my job working on the railroad is my lack of schedule. I’m on call 24/7. I get a two-hour call when I have to leave for work. I’m gone anywhere from 36 to 48 hours. I could be on the train for 12 hours up to 16 hours. We also are not allowed to strike. We are under the Railway Labor Act and I think that legislation is really misunderstood. Even within our own membership, members get really jealous that other Teamsters are allowed to strike. You also can’t stop these trains that fast. Our trains are anywhere from up to three miles long now, and anywhere from 15,000 to 18,000 tons. So, you can’t stop real quick. It’s dangerous work.
Andrea: For the pipeline industry, I just think people aren’t aware of what we do. Pipeline is very important. It’s the industry that’s responsible for how most people heat their homes. It’s necessary. It also requires a lot of long hours, and I would really, really, really love to see more women in this industry. I’m one of very few. But the women who do work in the pipeline industry, they are badass women.
Teresa: Most people would think I’m just a trash truck driver, but I actually operate a very specialized heavy machine because I’m collecting cans all day. They don’t see how I go into tight spaces. I have to watch out for traffic, for my customers, for e-bikes. People just think, “Oh no, she’s just driving a truck. She’s just picking up trash.” But it’s so much more than that.
Erin: Have there been issues on the job that have affected you as a woman that you have had to deal with? What did you do to confront such issues?
Carrie: It wasn’t common for women to be in the carhaul industry for a long time. There are very limited women’s bathrooms in the places where we make our stops. If I go to a new terminal, I have to be buzzed in. If nobody’s there, you have to go somewhere else. Even at my own my home terminal, the guys have a bathroom that has a shower, two sinks, and three stalls. I have to go through the mechanics shop and through a storage room, and then there’s a bathroom where you have to have a special key so that the guys won’t use it. At one point, one of those keys came up missing, and I would go in there and the toilet seat would be up. It would be a mess. I wanted to hurt someone’s feelings, but instead I contacted my union steward and, within 24 hours, the locks were changed and I was issued a new key. But these problems are everywhere you go. Even at some truck stops, there’s a huge men’s bathroom, but it’ll be one stall for the girls. I’m hoping that when more women join these industries, we’re going to see such issues corrected at some point.
Darice: I agree with that. On the railroads, we didn’t have a women’s bathroom for four years. They actually took our bathroom away. The men had a locker room, a shower, a bathroom, and then management took away the only women’s bathroom. And the men still break all the toilet seats. It cracks me up. A manager will call and say, “Hey, how’d that toilet seat get broken?” I’m like, “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask the men that go in there and use it? Women actually take care of our stuff.”
Andrea: For me, being a part of the Teamsters Union is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. I absolutely love my job in the pipeline industry, but what I love more is the solidarity. I haven’t had a bad experience at work.
Erin: That’s what we want. We want every woman to have a positive experience at work.
Teresa: To me, honestly, it’s being able to use and have access to a women’s restroom as well. I need to speak up, not just for myself, but for others because I’m only one of two female drivers at our terminal. I have encountered harassment, not towards me, but towards someone else. And she wasn’t able to speak up at the time that it happened. But I spoke up on her behalf, and I was retaliated against. Management at Republic Services wanted me to quit, but I stuck out the fight with my union, and we protected my job, and I’m happy I stood up.
Erin: What difference has having a union contract made in your life?
Carrie: It has definitely leveled the playing field for wages. I have five kids and my carhaul employer pays all my benefits. The Teamsters benefits are really unmatched. I have a pension. And I know I have an entire brotherhood and sisterhood behind me, no matter what happens. Having had nonunion jobs before, you always had to kind of walk on eggshells. Like if you had somebody that didn’t like you, like a manager who was constantly riding you, you were on your own. You might still get that, but now I have people in the union who are going to stand up for me. That’s the biggest change and biggest impact that having a union contract has made.
Darice: I think for me, on the railroad, it’s the only place I know where they really want to hire you, and then they spend the rest of their time trying to fire you. I think having the union there to protect you is what I find most beneficial. The railroad industry gets worse all the time. I’m very fortunate to have a Teamsters contract and all the people who protect me.
Andrea: My feelings are roughly the same. I’m very, very thankful to be under a union contract. It’s security. I don’t have to worry that I’m not going to be able to pay my bills or I’m not going to be able to go see a doctor. I have great health care with the Teamsters.
Teresa: I’m a first-generation Teamster. I have job security and health benefits. Not only that but I was able to send my son to college and he is graduating this year.
Erin: So, here’s a big one question. Why does it matter for younger women to see Teamsters women doing your kind of work? What would you say to young women, and how would you motivate them to move into your field?
Teresa: I’m an immigrant and I have an accent. If I’m able to do this work in the waste industry, you can too.
Andrea: I am getting older. It’s very important for young women to know that there is opportunity for them in the pipeline industry. You can do whatever you want. You can be exactly what you want to be. You know, it’s all about strong independence.
Erin: You said you were nervous coming out here in front of a live audience. But what do you you every day that’s less scary than this?
Andrea: I operate a really big machine. And I usually get wenched over hills with a bulldozer on my back. It’s crazy work. But it’s great.
Crowd: We are proud of you!
Erin: See, this audience isn’t so scary.
Andrea: The support helps!
Darice: I would love to see more women engineers on our trains. We’re not macho. I think we run trains way better than men. We have nothing to prove. But you really need a strong partner and you need a strong support network to take care of your kids. It was very challenging raising my family on the railroad. My husband was also a railroader. We worked opposite shifts all our careers until he retired a few years ago. You can do anything you want to do. It’s actually easy to run a train. But men are so macho about it.
Carrie: I have three daughters — all teenagers — and we are raising a generation of young women who are done falling in line to dominating patriarchal society standards. You know, having a younger generation coming in is going to bring new perspectives, new problem-solving. These aren’t archaic times anymore. I mean, it’s 2026, and we need to start acting like it.
Erin: Any closing remarks before we go?
Teresa: I want to give a special shout out to my sisters from Teamsters Local 396, and my co-workers from the Republic Services Anaheim yard.
Andrea: I would just like to say I am honored and very grateful to be at the Teamsters Women’s Conference. I would like to send a big thank you back home to Teamsters Local 697 in West Virginia. My baby daughter is at home.
Darice: I just want to thank my fellow locomotive engineers. I’ve got three other women here with me at the Teamsters Women’s Conference. And I want to thank the women of Teamsters Local 104 out in Arizona. They’ve been very inclusive.
Carrie: This is my first Teamsters conference. I have gone to bed every night feeling stronger and more empowered. This has been an amazing experience. These Teamster women are badass. You all deserve recognition.
Erin: I want to thank the badass women up here. You are the reason the Teamsters are making a difference and making changes. I appreciate what you do. Thank you!