Lineworkers Johnny Martinez and Chris Rodger on the Rewards and Challenges of Their Work
Johnny Martinez confesses that many days he gets up an hour earlier than he has to because he’s so primed to get to work. “I love coming into the shop, every day, seeing the guys, and heading out to take care of our members.”
Johnny, who has been with VEC since 2022, hails from Texas. His family goes way back there, even before Texas was a state. He started his career at a municipal utility in Lubbock. He then spent a few years working for a helicopter contractor doing work on big transmission lines all across the northeast. He’d be flown up on a chopper and be dropped onto transmission lines (or balance on a platform that’s fixed to the helicopter) to do equipment upgrades. “There is nothing like it,” he said with a smile.
Several years ago, his wife, a school psychologist, accepted a job offer in Burlington, so they moved to Vermont, now living in South Burlington.
“I warned her – you know it’s cold up there – she’s from Texas too - but she wanted to move up, so we did,” he says with a laugh.
What are the challenges of the job of being a lineworker?
“This job has an impact on your family life. There’s no getting around it. But my family is understanding. When the kids wake up in the morning and see that my boots by the door are wet, they know I’ve been out late, and that I’m trying to catch up on sleep – and they are super quiet, super considerate.”
Among the many rewards, he says, are the VEC members. “They are amazing.”
He recounted one time, after a bitter winter storm with lots of outages, he was out in the field and a simple gesture from some members helped him get through.
“We had 8 hours to go. I told the other lineworker I was with, ‘I’m done. I just can’t do any more. I’m done.’”
Moments later, it seemed, there were two cups of hot chocolate resting on the bed of the truck, a gift from grateful members.
“These members made this hot chocolate for us – they heated it up somehow, even though they didn’t have power, and they brought it out to us. After the first sip, I was back. I was ready to go.”
Chris Rodger (above) began his career in the utility industry with Unitil, a large utility based on Concord, NH, working in the metering and line departments. He also served in the National Guard, deployed to both Kuwait and Afghanistan.
Born in Chelsea Vermont, Chris was hired by VEC in 2008, and for several years he worked in the substation department, helping the co-op build new substations and rehabilitate old ones. In 2017, he switched over to the VEC line crew.
The big challenges of a job as a lineworker? “Aside from the everyday safety challenges, working with high voltage environments, I think the biggest challenge is being away from home,” he said. “I’ve missed a lot of my kids’ soccer games, and baseball games – it does tear at the heart at times,” he said.
That said, one of Chris’s sons, Connor, will start next year at the Green Mountain Tech Center in Hyde Park as a junior. Not long ago, Connor asked his dad about his job as a lineworker, saying he might be interested in pursuing that career path. “Hearing that – that your son interested in doing what you do – that’s pretty cool, as a Dad,” Chris said.
The rewards of linework? “It’s the guys I work with – this is a really good company. One of the big rewards is getting to help members install new service, say at a new home. People are super excited to see their power come on for the first time,” he said. “And another reward, of course, is restoring power after storms.”
He also noted that VEC has a strong community culture.
“In some places, you might get to see the CEO just once or twice a year, but not at VEC – this company is very open to getting everyone’s opinion – there is a culture of collaboration.”
Chris notes also that the vast majority of members he interacts with have been great. “It’s pretty amazing when you get back to the truck after working hard to get power back on and you find some donuts and fresh cider on the seat," he says. “That’s a good as it gets.”