Is there any honorability in employment anymore?

[biscuithead]

If you have the flexibility to move, qualified licensed electricians are in high demand in central Ohio. People are building stuff, too.

I think qualified licensed electricians are in high demand here also. It is just difficult to find a "qualified employer" that honors humanity with fair behavior.
Wife with a decent job and good health insurance, and two young kids make relocating for a 70k construction job that will only last as long as the boom ... a bad decision.

If I were single... then I'd just bounce around like I use too... socking away 50% of my pay and when I got a lay-off, I'd enjoy the 4 month vacation.... those were the days...

 

[ETLS]

... and say that all the planets align...

My wife's job and career of 14 years, and good health insurance and~ 80k, should we abandon that for a relocation to another part of the state and move our kids out of school ?

A very convoluted issue... with many things to consider.

That's what research helps with, finding an opportunity within your parameters. Who said the only opportunity is going to require everyone to uproot their lives and move across the world like Jed Clampett?

 

[biscuithead]

That's what research helps with, finding an opportunity within your parameters. Who said the only opportunity is going to require everyone to uproot their lives and move across the world like Jed Clampett?

You are right. Lots of thought and research is needed.

I am on Indeed and Monster and all 200 of the employment sites at least an hour a day, and I've been doing this for about 10 months. I am trying to think of every angle and trying to make my luck.

I am kind of thinking that my problem is just the manifestations of a much larger problem as others have also inferred. Mine is just a drop in the ocean.

 

[dosmalo]

[....]it is just routed to the top of the pyramid... the trickle drops rarely are seen by the likes of us.

biscuit, at you are %100 right!

 

[Tom Brennan]

People need to organize and work union. I was a union boilermaker, Local 1, Chicago. I worked out of the hall, never had to find a job. I had excellent pay, working conditions and benefits and retired at 55 with a generous (and well funded) pension. No contractor ever ****ed out of so much as a nickel.

If anyone can convince me unions aren’t in my interest I’ll call them Aristotle.

 

[biscuithead]

People need to organize and work union. I was a union boilermaker, Local 1, Chicago. I worked out of the hall, never had to find a job. I had excellent pay, working conditions and benefits and retired at 55 with a generous (and well funded) pension.

If anyone can convince me unions aren’t in my interest I’ll call you Aristotle. The only people who should hate unions are business owners. College is the new high school and the office is the new factory. If your name isn’t over the door you’re working class.

Nothing is inevitable, things can be changed for the better as well as for the worse, it’s that those who work to change things for the worse are better organized. When investors and businessmen work collectively to further their economic interest it’s called free enterprise. When employees work collectively to further their economic interest it’s called communism. What bullshit.

Holy shit ! I can't agree more.
I am also IBEW. It is just that in my region, geography plays a huge role in whether you work for a signatory contractor or not. So my pension is not vested. The hall is a long ways away and so are the jobs.
If I were smart, I would have made the decision to live in an area where the union was strong. But, alas I was/am a schmuck.
It is so refreshing to hear this said :
When employees work collectively to further their economic interest it’s called communism. What bullshit.

 

[biscuithead]

View attachment 1112899
biscuit, at you are %100 right!

I'll give you a high five... after you wash your hands.

 

[Alobar]

Shameful admission #1 : I mistakenly chose construction as my career path 20+ years ago.
Shameful admission #2 : I have spent the last 20+ years trying to exit construction.
.
I am in a licensed trade, and the nature of the construction industry is that you are always working yourself out of a job. You must always travel to where the jobs are, and in my state there exists these little micro-economies that are often taken advantage of by employers. Example :
.
I live about 1.5 hours north of Denver. The Denver/union wage for my talent is about $50 an hour (total package). Yet in my area there is zero union contractors and thusly the average wage for a JW in my area is $29 an hour. So it is very common for a northern contractor to bid jobs 2+ hours south, because it is easy to compete with the lower labor costs. Then the contractor expects the northern employee to commute to the job, turning an 8 hour work day into 12, but only getting compensated for the 8, at the lower wage.
.
I often try to land Industrial Maintenance jobs that are close to me because they offer average pay, with above average benefits. But when companies bankrupt, or contracts end, I often find myself back knocking on the door of the construction market. With this so called "labor shortage" I assumed that the wage would be recovering from the many years of very slow growth so I have tried my luck in construction again...
.
I have quit 2 companies in the last couple of months.

The first company had been courting me for over a year and I had interviews with them going back 8 months. So when I decided to jump back into Electrical Contracting, the path had already been paved.
We had always spoken about $36 an hour as a foreman and they would also provide me with a truck and phone. After two weeks, I discover that out of 40 guys, I am only the 3rd JW license that they employ, and they have me traveling all over Colorado dealing with inspections and code issues. This is fine, because they are paying me travel time, and I am in their vehicle. The problem arises when I get my first check and they are only paying me $31 an hour. When I confront the owner, he says that he "felt more comfortable" starting me at the lower wage because he viewed it as a trial period. I made it very clear that I would walk unless he paid me what we agreed upon at the $36. He promised that the next check would reflect that wage and that the prior pay period difference would also be on it.
It wasn't.
I walked.

I've been a Union electrician since 1980 and really I don't see that things have actually changed that much from what you described here even though I have been retired for 12 years. Been lied to, cheated on checks, and walked off many jobs over the years.

Be thankful you don't ply your trade where I did, all over Alaska. Being a few hundred miles from home on a highway system will always be better that working in some remote roadless pkace 500 miles as the Cessna flies. Or working on the North slope with hundreds of other workers stuck in a few camps.

I ended my career in maintenance at an air force station that had real job security and paid triple what construction was paying into the pension.

That's what I would advise, find one of these maintenance jobs that are putting a large portion of the wage package into retirement. That's your long term best bet, the closest thing us working stiff's ever get to a golden parachute.

 

[dosmalo]

I'll give you a high five... after you wash your hands.

Now days I feel like I should wash before I haul it out!

 

[biscuithead]

People need to organize and work union. I was a union boilermaker, Local 1, Chicago. I worked out of the hall, never had to find a job. I had excellent pay, working conditions and benefits and retired at 55 with a generous (and well funded) pension. No contractor ever ****ed out of so much as a nickel.

If anyone can convince me unions aren’t in my interest I’ll call them Aristotle.

I've been a Union electrician since 1980 and really I don't see that things have actually changed that much from what you described here even though I have been retired for 12 years. Been lied to, cheated on checks, and walked off many jobs over the years.

Be thankful you don't ply your trade where I did, all over Alaska. Being a few hundred miles from home on a highway system will always be better that working in some remote roadless pkace 500 miles as the Cessna flies. Or working on the North slope with hundreds of other workers stuck in a few camps.

I ended my career in maintenance at an air force station that had real job security and paid triple what construction was paying into the pension.

That's what I would advise, find one of these maintenance jobs that are putting a large portion of the wage package into retirement. That's your long term best bet, the closest thing us working stiff's ever get to a golden parachute.

In our region, IBEW is at 9% market share, up from 5 years ago at 7%. ... but considering that in 1965 it was 89% , still not an ideal place. Hopefully it grows enough to protect workers again

@Alobar, You have described my ideal direction that I am hoping to follow.

Thanks both of you for understanding !

 

[MannyE]

Get a good stereo and work for yourself.

Its the only way I did't get ****ed over in this miserable "right to work" state of Florida. I'm glad I don't see those rage-inducing General Electric commercials anymore where they make it seem like they care about America and Americans. First thing they did when they bought out Telemundo and NBC was send all the IT jobs and the accounting jobs to India. The only flag most of these companies salute has Benjamin Franklin on it.

You can say what you want about unions but my friends in NYC all have great medical and pension plans, even in this day and age.

 

[KLH9]

Now days I feel like I should wash before I haul it out!

How do you tell the difference between a blue collar worker and white collar worker?

A blue collar worker washes his hands BEFORE he uses the toilet

.

 

[Alobar]

Well for me,the ibew was my salvation in many ways. I never liked school so college was never an option for me. Also I'd probably not cared for working in the same place that long, and construction always was about changing it up every few months. New job, new people, different everything so I never got too sick of coworkers.

When I retired, for a few months I used to check my bank account at midnight the last day of the month, hit refresh a few times and there it would be, my pension direct deposit! Now 13 years later it has never missed once.. This is what all the pita was about, to get here.. Now I'm 62 and my nebf has kicked in along with SS. I know I will never have to work again in the trade with side cutters and channel locks hanging out of the pockets of my carhartts crawling under some structure.. Freedom!

 

[Alobar]

In our region, IBEW is at 9% market share, up from 5 years ago at 7%. ... but considering that in 1965 it was 89% , still not an ideal place. Hopefully it grows enough to protect workers again

@Alobar, You have described my ideal direction that I am hoping to follow.

Thanks both of you for understanding !

Many regions have suffered from R to W legislation, we have been a little insulated up here from that thus far. Contractors must survive in a very competitive environment and with non-union gaining strength in the right to work states, they are naturally moving into new territory where wages and bennies are stronger. Of course ultimately they drag down those wages too, so like a scourge it keeps moving.

Here in Alaska, non-union do have a foothold here, but due to the expense of moving up here, they are often frozen out of bidding on the larger projects. This gives union contractors a little advantage as they have a bigger pool of labor to tap, plus with the traveler system usually help will come in from locals down south to fill the gap. Unfortunately right now the state is going through a severe economic shortfall as the price of oil is way down and oil is the primary fuel that drives our economy.

There has been a lot of big contracts let on the military bases here, a few billion dollars, but that all went to outside non-union contractors who are bringing their workers here from the lower 48. Since these are mostly camp jobs it is much easier to get help if they don't really have to move their families up here. Plus on military bases these workers don't have to have to be licensed by the state.

 

[biscuithead]

this miserable "right to work" state

Many regions have suffered from R to W legislation, we have been a little insulated up here from that thus far. Contractors must survive in a very competitive environment and with non-union gaining strength in the right to work states, they are naturally moving into new territory where wages and bennies are stronger. Of course ultimately they drag down those wages too, so like a scourge it keeps moving.

I unfortunately do not know too many people who understand what a right to work state is. Most of the folks I work around in the northern part of my state think it gives them the right to work, and they will fight like hell to protect that right... as their pocket is being picked. Good to know that there are some on AK that have their wits about them.

There has been a lot of big contracts let on the military bases here, a few billion dollars, but that all went to outside non-union contractors who are bringing their workers here from the lower 48. Since these are mostly camp jobs it is much easier to get help if they don't really have to move their families up here.

It is a shame that the military is shopping out the bids this way... it use to be... well you know.

 

[biscuithead]

I imagine that we are stretching the limits of the AK rules with the direction of the conversation...

We should try to just keep this as an anecdotal " too bad the honorability of working for a good wage has been lost "...

 

[MannyE]

Yes... maybe a mod can move it to the "back alley" so we can keep bellyaching. lol.

 

[Alobar]

I imagine that we are stretching the limits of the AK rules with the direction of the conversation...

We should try to just keep this as an anecdotal " too bad the honorability of working for a good wage has been lost "...

I'll try to do better!

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Watch yer step, folks...getting mighty close to a thread closure here!

 

[biscuithead]

Apologies.


How about I ask these questions to all the AKers out there :

How many of you folks out there are happy with the changes that have occurred at work in the last 5-10 years?

Have the changes helped or hurt you ?

Just curious if there are any industries that have seen improvement in their treatment at work...