A Piledrivers take on progress in the Industry XI©

By: Eddie Glass
Job Problems and Stories:

Piledriving as a trade is affected by many things as is true with any Construction Trade. For instance when the National economy takes a ‘downturn’ for whatever reason, so does the Job market. After the First World War all of the Service Men from the various Military branches returned home to add to the work force. So many Veterans could not find work, unless they were farmers or perhaps had a job that they could return to. The situation that they found themselves in was neither of their fault nor choice. The Jobs that were available during the War was in the Shipyards, munitions factories, etc. for the ‘War Effort’. Of course when ‘hostilities’ ceased so did the War Effort jobs. The returning GI’s (Bonus March) even set up a tent city at the White House and rioted and some got killed in their Homeland, after enduring the hazards of Combat for more than four years. Depending on the accounts given in 1932 most of the fatalities were Women and Children of the Veterans of World War 1.

Of course technology took a leap forward in mechanized machines for warfare that was used later for peaceful purposes in the aftermath. One significant invention developed was for the ‘caterpillar’ track in 1908 in Germany, and WW1 broke out in 1914. These tracks were used worldwide almost exclusively on Cranes and Dozers, etc. for many years and eventually replaced the old skid rigs and roller rigs in Pile Driving that were still in use in the late 1960’s.

The Second World War which lasted six years wasn’t much different. The one change that sticks with me was that more Women joined the so called ‘Home Front’ workforce and many of the jobs were being ‘manned’ by women. I don’t think you could say this was the ‘start’ of Women’s liberation. They still weren’t liberated from housework and rearing kids, etc., they just had more Home Front jobs. As kids my Brother and I went with someone to pick my Mom up from work. The parking lot that we parked in had loudspeakers, turned to full volume to blare the same song over and over during our wait for the shift change. The name of the song was ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’ by Al Dexter in 1943.

My Dad worked in a Naval Shipyard as a first class welder for ninety-six cents per hour and my Mom worked for less than fifty cents per hour in a Munitions crating Plant, building crates for bombs.

My Dad worked, as did his co-workers twelve hours per shift from twelve to twelve, this gave him twelve hours to farm. Oh, by the way my Dad was neither a ‘draft dodger’ nor ‘4F’; his classification was Head of Household with two sons. When the War ended and the Combat Force returned to the Work Force it caused an overload again. In later years I talked to some ‘old hands’ in Piledriving and one told me, “After a war a man can’t beg a job”, truer words were never spoken, as some wise man said. Personally, I experienced the same thing as a returning GI after the ‘Police Action’ in Korea. The fighting went on for three years, but the War has never officially ended.

My youngest Brother had the same experience when he returned from Viet Nam, in which the United States was involved for more than ten years.
Added to this overload of ‘sources’ of employable people is always, for better or worse, an influx of refugees that get a crack at the Job market before, during and after a war.
Another advanced ‘Invention’ or development, during the Second World War that came from Germany is the diesel impact Pile Hammer along with the Atomic bomb from the United States.
As a side note, use of the Diesel Pile Hammer has recently been banned in Tokyo Japan because of air pollution. The Atomic energy from the development of the ‘bomb’ is used in many Countries for Power Plants to limit the pollutions from fossil fuels. I guess everybody is going ‘green’ in different ways.

I mention these historical facts to put a time frame on the period in which, my Dad became a Piledriver after the Second World War.
After a couple of years of working at different jobs in different Crafts I followed in my Dad’s footsteps. After a short time my two Brothers joined me.
In this day and time it is said that the Construction Trades are suffering because of a downturn in the economy. This downturn has been called, recession, depression, etc., but the fact of the matter is being out of a job with no income is bad, no matter the name or cause.
I would be naïve to suggest that ‘hard times’ or for that matter ‘good times’ have any one particular root cause. When I started in the Piledriving trade I was young and full of (bleep) and vinegar and enjoyed the competition of large Crews on each Piling Rig. Typically, a Crew would have a Fireman, Oiler, Operator, Foreman and two or three Piledrivers on the Rig. In addition to the Rig Crew there would be several Piledrivers to support the Rig Crew by loading, unloading and ‘heading’ pile in the case of wood pile. At first wood pile were ‘headed/trimmed’ at the ‘butt’ end by a Piledriver with an axe, and then along came a ‘power’ header, similar to a chainsaw with a chipper attachment, and did a smoother, faster job than a Piledriver with his ax. Now, wood piling are mechanically headed at the Vendor’s Plant before shipment. The Labor Crew has been replaced by Backhoes, Forklifts, Front loaders, or a combination of all three in one Unit.

The Piledriving Crew was supported by a large number of Laborers and other Crafts. This Crew size has been reduced considerably by advances in technology with hydraulic Rigs, and Hammers, no Fireman, and no Oiler, only an Operator and sometimes he even has a handheld remote control.

The Fireman and Oiler have been replaced in most instances by a crew of Mechanics that are not charged to the job but are charged to the Equipment department. I wonder which Accountant thought of that one? I know of one mid-sized Contractor that has more than thirty Mechanics and the Equipment still keeps them busy on repairs up to seven days a week to keep the Piledrivers busy five days a week. Maybe it is cheaper to pay wages than it is to replace worn-out Equipment.

I don’t have a ‘beef’ with Mechanics or any other Craft, but I can’t explain to myself why? I guess I can blame every thing on the economy downturn.
In the ‘old days’, of which I am most familiar, almost every man in the Crew could perform and excel on any part of a Piling job, including mechanical repairs.
I guess the ‘catch’ in all this is similar to the reasoning of my Granddad when he bought his first tractor. He said at the time, I can farm more land and I don’t have to feed (off road gas, i.e. no tax, was about ten cents per gallon) any mules, and ‘Bessie’ (my Grandmother) can drive the tractor while I am away on a job (he was a boilermaker), and besides that I can get rid of the mules and farm the mule pasture.
To be continued -