questions for the tradespeoples

hey everyone, i have a few questions regarding my line of work. i am an apprentice carpenter and love what i do. the company i work for has been very good to me ever since i started however i now feel that i am no longer learning anything from the company and from my coworkers. i know i do not know everything but i just don't seem to be learning from these guys. i personally drive myself to be the best i can be! i make sure i better myself and my work as often as i can. anyways to make a point to my ranting, i have been looking for a new job (current job is doing cottages) but the only jobs i seem to find are for subdivision work. i am considering this line just so i get the experience however the issue i keep noticing is a lot of places are either unionized and hiring only unionized members or non-unionized. i am currently non-union and everyone i talk to tells me to go union. i would like to know what everyone else's experiences have been with a union and without. what would i be looking at if i joined a unionized crew? any feedback/comments/suggestions are highly welcomed!!!

sorry for the rant! and heres a pic i have posted before
this is a place we did a few years ago but the type of work i do everyday

 

dude thats freakin sweet!!!!! Id say go join the union carpenters..they will give you a heap of knowledge, along with all kinds of benefits,paid days off and other great benefits.

the only down side is if the work gets slow, so do you. layoffs and what not

 

Unions are good because they fight for higher wages and better conditions for you.

They suck because people under the union will sometimes work like crap because they know it's almost impossible to get fired. I've been a part of a few unions, and personally I like it. I don't like what it does to peoples work ethic though and it's sad.

 

work is getting slow right now, we have 5 guys full time and one 'project manager' and the pm is wrecking our jobs. he's a lazy slob who is over paid and does nothing that is expected of his position, costs the company way too much money and is useless on site. he's f'd up this entire week because he was too lazy to book the inspection last week....

 

i make really good money right now because we (the crew) are really good (not trying to brag), my boss pays me to drive to and from work (covers my fuel, insurance and a part of the monthly payment) so money is not really an issue. as for conditions, we do our best to be safe but there comes a point when safety regulations are just retarded (i.e. 6 foot tie offs). and the whole crappy work thing is what i hear a lot, i'm not in this trade because i have to be but because its what i like and i like to do really good work so it scares me to have to work someplace where i have 15 minutes to install an interior door!

 

Both are very true. I get paid 4 times what I would get without the union. But there are extreme lazy asses on our crew.

 

i've been told that unionized guys are quick and dirty (we know the dirty part right, no offense to anyone). whats the site environment like? do things as fast as possible?

 

umm. It depends. our work is pretty damn precise and sometimes a little dangerous so you can only go as fast as the job and safety measures allow. One screw up and alot of people/businesses are SOL or you could end up in the hospital or dead. Management/Engineers always push for the least amount of hours possible to make themselves look good so we generally get the short end of the stick and have to bust our asses or else we look like slackers and our personal productivity rating goes down. It all comes down to personal work ethic and pride in the end.

 

what exactly do you do, if you don;t mind me asking? i specialize in custom trim work mostly but since we are such a small company i diddle in everything

 

No to Union.

(I'm anti-union... but that's a long story that I won't tell here )

 

lol well that defeats my list of why not to join then doesn;t it

 

I work for the phone company (at&t) CWA Local 9505. Again though, no matter what your field, if you switch from a smaller outfit like it sounds your in to a larger one, productivity is almost the sole focus. There really isnt any time for true craftsmanship anymore. You get the job done, period.

 

Yeah, yeah. I know i never thought of myself as a union type of guy either. But 1) its pretty much mandatory, and 2) $35.00/hr, full benefits, and tons of vacation and overtime (2nd year out of school) is much better than $12.00/hr. and an occasional pat on the back

 

ya thats what i keep hearing......sucks for me though cause craftsmanship is what i want to excel at. it pisses me off when i see the crap that is done in my house....we would never even consider something finished in the state that they 'finish' it.

 

dude trust me stay away from the union crews, i'm a foreman for a carpentry company here in maine, and i know what it's like when you are starting out learning things then you feel like you got to the point when you are not learning from the crew anymore. But whne you go to a union crew, just like what you said you are expected to do what we call wham bam thank you ma'am carpentry, basically you take no pride in your work, and you just throw things together. when i was first starting out i was in a union company in another state, and trust me it sucked. so yeah stay away from the union guys in my opinion. oh yeah all and i agree some of the safety stuff is bs, but i guess they make those regulations guess so dill hole hurt themselves being an idiot.

 

thanks for your input

 

Unions are a business. They're in place to make money. You pay your dues out of your paycheck. Trust me, they don't give a shit about you unless you don't pay your dues.

 

well i have to say that unions seem to be a bad way for me to go! i appreciate all your comments guys and thanks for helping me make my decision! going to stay with the crew!

 

I think that's a wise choice. The grass always seems greener on the other side... you only realize how good you had it once you left...

 

ya thats what i am afraid of, too much to give up!