any union guys here?

[Local124bro]

do you guys stay with a city local or like to travel?
i have always worked for city locals however thinking 09 i may have to travel i see alot of big jobs slowing.

if you where to travel where ? vegas ? power plant ? oil refinery ?
too me it would all be the same loooong days over done safety and paper work and more paper work... god i hate big jobs...

As an electrician money is in industrial and production. Its always overtime! We always have big shut downs for Ford and GM twice a year for a few weeks that puts around 600 electricians to work from out of town. Power plants and wind farms are good to if you like going high! I just got off a refinery and it was all rat ! Very unsafe job with the kind of steel and shit flying over your head and no one speaking english . Seen a couple guys almost get hit by steel, Im talkin missed them by 5 inches, a steel cat walk. The general contractor was rat and it was their guys... They also had their own in house "safety". Us and the sheet metal guys were the only union guys on the job. Vegas is always working, it takes about a month for a guy to get out to work after he signs the books.

 

[Local124bro]

no joking on that. Ive been unemployed for 3 weeks and job hunting for 2 months. Only got one offer for 9 bucks an hours (no benefits)

its not about how much education or experience you have anymore, its whos willing to work for the lowest wage.

No shit! Lol! Ive seen a Mexican citizen get in the carpenters union , thats bull shit in it self, and when it got slow he was working for around 5 dollars less an hour! WTF!!! Just so he wouldnt get laid off. Thats not a good trend to start!! It will only get worse!! The old timers would take care of that back in the day. Now nobody cares about the brother hood or solidarity. Its getting sad but you have to protect your way of life.

 

[clae1]

what i got an issue with today on the bigger jobs is as union employees you get mandatory drug testing background 5 / 10 year depending on job. applications fingerprinting... you name it but the non union peckerheads next to me cant speak english . dont try to tell me they passed all those tests. i dont think some of them even knew about the tests.

dont even get me started on saftey today .

i also have been seeing a trend among the mexican labor , which is good they are not working as hard for as little anymore thier getting smarter. i work around crews all the time and they'll say i dont get paid enough to do this or that and they wont as hard to please .

this makes the educated tradesman much more valuable on any job. now they gotta get organized and get trained the right way. if your ontime and do what your told most likley your trainable

 

[Harvman]

Being late for a job pisses them off more than anything. A few months ago one of are apprentices was 2 min late one day and 1 min late the week before. He is no longer with us. You are 100% right about that they wont find you trainable if you are not on time.

 

[Local124bro]

Being late for a job pisses them off more than anything. A few months ago one of are apprentices was 2 min late one day and 1 min late the week before. He is no longer with us. You are 100% right about that they wont find you trainable if you are not on time.

Shit man what the hell you gonna do in 2 min anyways. Apprentices are always late, but whos gonna bring in donuts if you dont have them? I dont sweat the small stuff on my jobs. If a guys late so what as long as he does you a good job through out the day. You take care of your men and they will ALWAYS take care of you.

 

[Harvman]

This was a shop guy and he got fired by the owner. If he was in the field they wouldnt have cared.

 

[fuerileld]

hey harvman i was in the sheetmetal union also for ten years local 11 out of new orleans. now i'm in the UAW. what do you do are you in the shop or field? I used to be in the shop, specialty work, big copper sweeping hoods and stainless countertops stuff like that.

 

[mcgaret]

Shit man what the hell you gonna do in 2 min anyways. Apprentices are always late, but whos gonna bring in donuts if you dont have them? I dont sweat the small stuff on my jobs. If a guys late so what as long as he does you a good job through out the day. You take care of your men and they will ALWAYS take care of you.

I disagree. I am easy on the guys as long as they do their job. Sometimes
it is so busy you are happy with a 'warm body'. I have found that when
you are cool with the guys - some WILL take care of you and others will
start to take advantage - BIG TIME. Breaks it up into the keepers and the 'get rid of first chance you get'.

 

[Local124bro]

I disagree. I am easy on the guys as long as they do their job. Sometimes
it is so busy you are happy with a 'warm body'. I have found that when
you are cool with the guys - some WILL take care of you and others will
start to take advantage - BIG TIME. Breaks it up into the keepers and the 'get rid of first chance you get'.

Your from Cali... We are raised a little different in the midwest. Lol! But yeah there are some guys like that but we call them hall trash and we all know who they are before they take the call. Sometimes they turn around when they realize they have been through all the contractors and know they better get with it or not be employed.