From Safety to Sisterhood, April Ford Makes an Impact on Wyoming’s Working Families

Even as a child, April Ford knew that she wanted to be a union member.  
 
Her grandfather was a carman, and she still has memories of her dad walking the picket line and carrying picket signs when he worked for Mountain Bell.  
 
Fast forward to today and Sister Ford has held almost every position in Local 951 and is the first female Safety and Legislative Director (SLD) in Wyoming.  
 
“It’s kind of fitting, because Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote,” Ford noted during a recent interview with SMART-TD.  
 
She’s held the role since 2021, but it wasn’t something that she secured by sitting on the sidelines.  

“The way I got involved…I just attended quite a few local meetings and attended the special events that my local hosted, and it just gave me a sense of being a part of something bigger than myself…belonging to something that I felt could make a difference.”

A Family Affair  

Back in 1998, Sister Ford and her husband (who worked on the railroad) were busy raising three teenagers while she went to junior college for a second associate’s degree. 
 
With a semester left, she found out that the railroad was hiring. 
 
“At that time, I had four brothers-in-law that were working for the railroad, and I knew that the railroads paid pretty well,” Ford said. “So, I decided to apply. Essentially an opportunity knocked, and I jumped.”  
 
She worked as a conductor for five years before being promoted to locomotive engineer.  
 
During her first seven years on the railroad, she was furloughed a few times, but her persistence paid off.  
 
“Eventually, I was able to stay and work in my hometown, and I’ve got two boys that work out on the railroad. If [my grandfather] was still around, he’d be pretty proud of the legacy.” 

Taking Her Passion for Safety to Cheyenne  

Sister Ford doesn’t shy away from speaking about the reality of her state’s political landscape.  

“Politics in Wyoming is tough,” Ford explained. “When you’re trying to talk to lawmakers about workers’ rights and safety conditions, not only for their constituents but also for the workers of Wyoming, it’s a pretty cold reception.”  
 
Still, she hasn’t let that stop her from speaking out about her passion for safety.  
 
Sister Ford became involved with her Local Safety Committee about 15 years ago and is still fighting to protect her union brothers and sisters.  
 
“My belief is that every member and every employee should return home in the same condition that they left it,” Ford said. “Company officials can’t be everywhere, and they don’t see the same things we see. They’re not exposed to the same hazards that we are day in and day out, and I just believe that it’s our duty to report safety hazards and to let them be known and to protect our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves out here.”  
 
When asked about an accomplishment that she’s particularly proud of, you might think that Sister Ford would talk about passing a bill or championing a legislative initiative, but her answer is surprising.  

“I think for me, it was just getting involved and working hard to stay involved,” Ford reflected. I think there’s a lot of burnout with the local union leadership roles that we play out here. There’s a huge amount of the armchair quarterbacks that are quick to criticize and who don’t show up for regular meetings.”    

Lessons Learned & Looking to the Future  

As a female leader, Sister Ford has become skilled at dealing with those armchair quarterbacks over the years and has some words of wisdom for other women in our union.    

“I think the first thing that needs to get out of the female vocabulary is ‘I can’t,” Ford stated. “As far as women getting involved…just do it. Get involved. It’s hard, but it’s even harder to stay involved. That’s a struggle.”  

If more women are committed to getting and staying involved with our union, Sister Ford is hopeful that translates into easy-to-see results.  

“I’ve gone to a lot of conferences and conventions, and I look at that head table. We need women in those spots. We come up with some amazing ideas.”  

During the nearly three decades that she’s been on the railroad, Sister Ford is grateful for some of the other trailblazers who came before her.  
 
“There’s been a lot of progress that’s been made over the years,” Ford noted. “I remember kind of idolizing a girl that had been out here for years as a locomotive engineer. I really watched her, and she really paved the road for a lot of us. She did some really great things. She had to share a bathroom at the end of the hall in a hotel that they put the railroaders up in, and she fought hard. I couldn’t imagine that.”  
 
With retirement starting to creep slowly into focus within the next several years, Sister Ford wants to ensure that she leaves things even better than she found them.  
 
“Promoting those other women, getting them involved, pushing them a little bit, putting my arm around their shoulder and dragging them to things. That for me is the biggest takeaway that I will grab a hold of when I leave.”