I've been offered a job at the largest union shop in my area and I am half tempted to take it. I would love to make more money, who wouldn't. I don't know much about it. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons. I said I wouldn't take the job unless I did service work and very minimal traveling.
Every local will have different pros and cons. Here, you can't get hired by a shop unless you join the union first, go on 'the books' for rotation, and then the shop can pick you over others if they hire you as a foreman and pay foreman's wages.
Our local covers 14 counties, as we are the result of a merger a while back. So if you get laid off and go on the books, you might get a job 100 miles from your home. Other locals are smaller, and that's not the case.
Union pay and benefits are great. I have met some fantastic craftsmen through the union as you get to meet people from all over the country that like to travel.
There are restrictions you have to abide by when working in a union. Most of the time they make sense, but other times they are silly and time wasters.
I went through the IBEW NJATC apprenticeship which, to me, was the best part of the union. It was a great experience here for me.
Now, work is so slow that if you want to be a union electrician you won't work all year, (one time I spent two years on the books) and just to survive you will have to travel to other states.
The local should have a business agent. That person would have been a working electrician and elected by his peers to do the work. Make an appointment with him or her and ask them to be honest with you and to tell you the pros and cons. Also, ask them to go over the rules you will have to follow as a union hand. Right now, unions aren't clamoring for hands so I there wouldn't be much incentive for the BA to paint you a rosy picture just to get you 'organized', which means getting you in the union.
Make sure you ask about the length of the job (if it's a union job, the BA should know the details) and what happens to you if you get laid off. Have him explain the 'book' system to you and ask how long a full rotation is taking. Here it's still several months. You don't want to take a good paying job to find out that in a year you will be out of work and on the books for several months. Some halls won't let you work non union while you are on the books, others don't mind, due to the economy.
When the economy is thriving, being in the IBEW is great. You get closer jobs, more of them, lot's of overtime and the overtime pay is excellent.
With the economy like it is now, I would be hesitant to 'go union' simply on that caveat alone.
Also beware of 'auditions'. That's where a large union contractor will hire more people than they need for a job. The best stay, the rest get sent back to the hall. Smaller contractors can't afford to do that. Ask the BA how many people are being hired and, (this is important) why they aren't hiring off the books.
Good luck!
