For 11 years she supported herself and her son by working in a low-paid clerical job. Then she completed a six-month program at New York City Technical College that trained women in building maintenance and repair. She joined Local 30, International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), and in 1983 she was hired as an apprentice with the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey.

Her first job was at LaGuardia airport's large heating plant. The more senior of her two supervisors had a long-lasting negative impact on her training. Under his oversight she never acquired the thorough training necessary to master her trade. For three years he prevented Maitin and the other female apprentice from acquiring the hands-on skills that are the purpose of an apprenticeship. Instead he ordered them to clean, mop, sweep, dust, and paint the facility. When the women complained to the union, they were told not to worry about the situation.

As her apprenticeship drew to a close in 1986, Maitin learned that the supervisor had denied her and McMann—but not their sole male colleague—the right to take the qualifying test to become a mechanic, citing "a lack of preparedness." The two women successfully filed a grievance. They were allowed to take the test and were credited with 53 hours of overtime that had been unfairly denied them.

By this time Maitin was ready for a change. She accepted a job as a mechanic at the Port Authority bus terminal on 42nd Street, where she was part of a much larger and more diverse group. She also served as a shop steward, a post she held for two years. In 1998 she transferred to a solitary job as a mechanic at the George Washington Bridge. She usually took the midnight shift; her only contact with co-workers occurred during the shift change. The move was a calculated choice. She no longer had the problem of coworkers withholding technical information, but she would forego the chance to master her trade. In later years she took a job at JFK Airport.

She also limited her union activism. Although she lacks faith in unions as an institution, Maitin nevertheless holds union membership as an important value: “I know that if I wasn’t in a union, the guy next to me would be getting paid more money than I am, and I may not have the job, and he might get benefits that I don’t get.”

In her oral history Maitin describes the repercussions of being poorly trained and its effect on her career and working relationships. She also discusses racism and sexism, unions, activism, and her plans for the future.