What do you do for work?

My grandfather spent 40 years as an Electrician for McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) wiring up airplanes on the assembly line.

 

where are you? I dunno how it is with the other locals, but I got in as an apprentice. With IBEW southern ontario local its very hard to get in as a journeyman. Here we have the stupid joint apprenticeship council that takes care of the apprenticeship portion. I'm not sure of any other locals that do that. Otherwise you'd need to speak to the organizers and what not.

One of the guys I worked with non union is still trying to get in, has been for two years now. For our local they make it very hard once you're a licensed. From what I understand the only time they will be hiring journeymen is when no one is on the out of work list and they have calls to fill...which as of right now will probably not happen anytime soon, given the out of work list is huge.

Only other way that another friend of mine has just recently done is working non union and had the company get organized. Once you're journeymen thats probably the easiest way in. At least thats how our local works.

Otherwise like you said, probably contact your local hall and figure out their process. If they're anything like my local they'll be asking you to get them a list of names from non union guys that want to go union and then try and organize your company

 

So, you're the guys we bitch about...

Cool jobs...both. I get to play with the 57, 67 & triple almost every work day. Oh and the "Boeing" MD11 & "MD"10s, A300 & A310. I'm hoping for an all twin BA fleet someday.

 

Why do they make it so hard? The teaching unions just want your money when you join. If you decide to join the union, you get all the same benefits from the district but don't get access to free council from the unions lawyers if you need them.

But it seems like a bit of a scam. We are part of 3 nested unions. We pay the top one and they pay down to everyone else

 

I dunno which union you're talking about. But with the JAC for my local you dont pay extra into it. The dues I pay into IBEW covers all of it. And at $41 a month its really not that bad.

The trades unions work very different from your typical teachers union or workers union.

But in terms of making it hard I have no clue. The guys that are born and raised union have this mentality that they are smarter than any non union worker. Which is pretty funny cause some of them are really stupid haha. They have this stupid idea that you can only learn the trade working union. So if you started non union they give you a hard time because they think you're less qualified.

That being said you do learn extra stuff that can help in the trade, but I probably learned more about troubleshooting and such working non union than I have working union. That said I never would've ended up working on some of the largest projects in the city if I was non union. I never would've been at one of the Pan Am centres, and even more so NEVER would I have been at Billy Bishop Airport either. I was at the airport tunnel job for a year and half never see stuff like that non union.

Extra stuff can be the mandatory courses you need to take. Teach you hoisting and rigging, welding, fire alarm systems, confined space awareness.
Mind you you can also do these non union, but union they make sure you do it. But at the same time some of them are bullshit and useless, like the confined space one. All they teach you is the rules around them, who can enter, what you need etc. They don't teach you how to actually be in one, or how to use any of the stuff you need to in them. Nor does the course qualify as training to let you go in one. I have my full confined space certificate though since I prefer doing that kind of specialty work.

At the same time these specialty things could also be more towards non union. When I was working non union one of the companies I was with only did restaurants and a complete tangent, wood working and welding shops haha. So I saw a lot of explosion proof in the wood shops.

That post turned out way longer than I expected

 

So your union gives you jobs to work? We have to get a job and then join the local union. They negotiate salary raises, salary schedule, benefits, and bylaws each year. If you have a complaint you go to them and they will collectively get it handled. These unions sound very different

 

Yep they are.

So the way the trades unions work is if you get in you are an employee of that union (in my case Internation Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Now I currently work for a company called Plan Group Inc. They are a unionized electrical contractor (actually they have a seperate division in each mechanical, sheet metal, plumbing, electrical, communications) So I am sub contracted out to them by IBEW. Even though my pay cheque might say plan group inc on it I am essentially an employee of IBEW, on my cheque I see one pay of the hourly rate, BUT they are paying IBEW a different rate as my whole package. The part of that pay that I dont see on my paycheque go to different things, whether it be health and welfare (benefits), pension, RRSP etc.

No matter which company I work for whether it Plan Group, Ainsworth, Guild, Black and Macdonald, Ozz etc I will get the same pay same benefits. If I am laid off from say Plan because they have no work (which if they don't everyone worries since they're the largest in ontario) I go to the hall, get put on the out of work list and then wait my turn to pick up another call. Whenever any of these unionized companies need more guys they just go to the hall, put in a call saying I need two journeymen and 1 apprentice for example if I am next up on that list i can either turn that job down if I dont like what is being asked, or take it.

Some of these calls could be more specialized though like they want someone with a full welding license or different class of electrical license or must have confined space training etc.

By union law no non union employee is supposed to be on a unionized job site. If saw a union rep were to come on site and find a non union person working for that unionized company they are removed from site and the company is actually fined.

So ya its very different from other unions. There are similarities though obviously like if you have a problem with someone you can file a grievance and the union supposedly will take care of it.

 

Wow, very interesting. I always wondered why construction companies fought union organization. I didn't realize it was THE business.

Our district is kind of like that union. They get paid by the state, LEA, and fed for each student that shows up each day. They then withhold strs, benefits, state things, taxes, and then pay us. Interesting.

 

Ya I've worked both and my old bosses even said if they were organized they'd close shop. Figure if they are charging say $90 an hour for each guy they send to a job at least 1/3 of that alone is for paying the employee, then cost of truck, transportation etc. They'd need to start charging a lot more and then might lose their contracts they might have.

Union trades are usually only better for the employee and thats it. Think of it this way a non union company on average pays journeymen around 30-35. Union pay is $41 and thats not even the full package wage. Note those wages are different for different areas I think alberta is upwards of $48 an hour but cost of living is more there.

BUT at the same time being union could benefit as they usually get to bid on much larger jobs. Basically there is good and bad to both. But as an employee, I truthfully prefer the work in non union like I had in the company I worked for before. But at the end of the day I'm not working because I like it lol. I'm working for the reason almost everyone does, money and living.

So its better union, more pay, benefits, and I can't lie the pension that IBEW has is amazing. I know some of my older coworkers that are retiring after this year are getting $72 000 yearly from pension. Nevermind if you saved any money on the side as well. If you put in the time you can get a great pension.

 

maintanance mechanic at a hospital

 

Huh this was a cool thread to read thru. I'll play.

I am an " International Service Specialist" for a large Natrual gas compression company.

 

I am a whiskey processor for a bourbon company.

 

that could be fun...and good looking pup in the picture

 

I enjoy the job. And thanks! Just noticed your puppy. How old?

 

Where are all the other teachers on TW??

 

Work for a Food Broker doing schematics/planograms for a major So Cal grocery chain. Basically shuffling product on a shelf, so the next time you go to buy your favorite grocery item, you say "WTF...where is it"

 

Had an uncle who was a State Park Ranger. I damn near went that route.

Happy for you

 

Material Planner for Honeywell Aerospace

 

My daughter just graduated rotary-wing flight school in the Army. She is only the 2nd women Apache pilot in SC.

(This is right after graduation in a Bell that she took us up in)

 

That's an exciting time! I wished I loved flying like that still, but right now I am ready for a break. I am hoping that the bug bites me back though.