billsnogo said:
So they tend to not use the 1st and 2nd year apprentices much? Maybe I would be better off then non-union. I really need at least an average of 35 hours a week.
No. What I'm saying is you do not make a whole lot on the hour....
Also, you are at the bottom of the pile. Not always do they have use for minimal knowledge apprentices all the time. If the construction industry turns down like the slump it is in now....what happens is there are too many hands and not enough work, the ones with the most experience stay busy like there is no slow-down and the others have to wait it out.
You can be the most advantageous or willing to work.....but your knowledge background is the only thing that will keep your hands moving.
Of course the pay is going to be low in the beginning; has to be fair to the top earners so there is a big difference in what you bring home.
When I entered the union I switched from new construction to service....that keep me busy even though the wage was slightly less.
I watched new construction plumbers that had been with the union for years.....couldn't find work, had families and was forced to become travelers because the local work was only going to be there for the taking by the ones who had been there the longest.
I watched some guy milk out his sub pay which is your money used as unemployment wages while your sitting on the bench and have to leave his family to work 13 weeks, 7 days a week, 10 hour days....4 states away.
Only to be laid off and back on the bench till the next tour comes around.
I know a family of pipefitters that on average is laid off on the bench.....4 months a year. Both have families and they also have sub-pay to draw from while on the bench but that nonsense starts to work against you because whenever your hands move in your profession, you are learning 9 times out of 10.
An idle mind can ruin your effectiveness to be sharp when you work the next time.....and you have to work at the drop of a dime or you get skipped on the bench.......no matter how rough the job.
Some may think I'm making this up. I'm not. I'm speaking from personal experience and being inside those 4 walls of a union wasn't as glamorous as the trimmings are made out to be.
I've seen a union destroy a non-union shop because of the money it took for the company to join. Being union forces you to raise your rates because the union does not give discounts to newbies in the biz.
I've been told that the union I belonged to now has ridiculous health insurance, they have a turnover rate worth mentioning that those like myself wake up and see the forest from the trees and know there are much greener pastures without me as an employee supporting a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of my hard earning wages to belong.
You control where you want your personal success to be.