Tyler's Union

I was having a conversation this weekend about Tyler's job with a friend and she seemed confused about it. I thought a blog was in order to describe how Tyler's union works. This blog is dedicated to you Diana :-)

Okay, where to start? Maybe - with how you join his union. Basically, you just sign up and pay dues and I believe you are suppose to have residence within certain parameters and of course you need to be an apprentice or journeyman within the appropriate field (in this case, Electrician). There are two types of dues, "working dues" and "non-working dues". When you are working a union job, you pay higher dues/fees. Out of work people pay lower dues/fees. By being up to date on your dues, you are eligible to apply for union jobs.

Your dues are suppose to pay for the Union to keep a supply of jobs (by bidding on contracts), advertising and other adminstrative costs. Also, when you are working, you bank hours that make you eligble for medical/dental benefits, a pension and RRSP contributions. In addition, the rate of pay for Union members is typically higher than non-Union members. Typically, non-union workers don't seem to get benefits.  The work schedule is pretty well honored by the Union companies, so 1 first day of overtime is paid at 1.5 and the second & third days are paid at 2. So right now, Tyler's schedule is Monday to Thursday, 10 hour days. For every Friday he works, he gets 1.5 times his rate of pay and every Saturday & Sunday (Sundays are rare), he gets double his rate of pay. Definitely awesome, but a lot of it goes to taxes too.

Jobs/positions are posted on an electronic bulletin called the Jobline, and/or you can also call a recording to hear the jobs (to see the current version for yourself, you can visit http://www.ibew424.net/Default.aspx?tabid=81 as it is available to the public). This is done each evening before a weekday (not including holidays). Jobs are organized by company, a small description and a list of what positions they are looking for (example 2 jouneyman's + 1 third year apprentice), a description of the shifts (i.e. 4/10s means 10 hour days, 4 days a week, 5/8s means 5 days at 8 hours days, 6&6 12, means 6 days on, 6 days off, 12 hour shifts). Then, to get a job, you "bid" on it.

Bidding on jobs: when you are out of work, you are assigned a number (kind of like waiting in line at the bakery when you take a number). Numbers are seperated between Journeyman (electricans who have completed the four year program of schooling and on the job hours) and Apprentices (of which there are 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th year). Each weekday morning, starting at 8am you call the Hall and bid on the job you want (providing you are currently out of work, you cannot bid on a job when you have a job). To bid, you tell them the position you want (and perhaps your 2 & 3 choices if applicable) and give them your Out of Work #. I can't tell you the exact rules, but usually this bidding lasts for maybe an hour (as it can take that long to get through to someone). After the call time is over, the Hall sorts through those who called, and give the jobs to those who called in with the BEST number (meaning been out of work the longest). Sometimes there are extra criteria, such as a call for an Edmonton resident or someone with experience with a specific type of work, which can lean a bid to your favor, but generally it is best number & first come first serve. The Union philosophy being that there is no favoritism the way.

Unfortunely, the Union isn't as strong as it used to be in this area, so there tends to be more people available then jobs. Sometimes this can work out okay because you schedule a self-imposed, non-paying break in between jobs to "beef" up your number to increase your chances of winning a bid on a job. Or, as an Apprentice, when you go to school for your 8 weeks, your number is usually stronger when you are done.

This also means that while working for the Union, you will basically never have one job for the rest of your working days. Instead, you go from contract to contract as the work is available. You might have one job for a couple weeks or a couple months or a couple years, depending how much work the company has.  Usually, a job will be describes as 2 weeks+ meaning they have at least 2 weeks of work, if they don't like you then you may get laid off and if they do like you, there is work for a while.

I believe I've outlined many of the pros of the Union already, but additionally one of the biggest pro's as far as Tyler is concerned, is the lack of resumes & interviewing. Since he has never had to do a resume/interview to get a job, it is even more intimidating for him to begin now.

Some of the cons of Unions are:

-the non-steady flow of paycheques means you need to be good at budgeting your money, you never know when the cheques will end and when they will start. Sometimes there are educated guesses, but you never really know for sure. Example, Tyler thought this current job would have ended in May as it seemed the company was going to lose the contract even though the work isn't done.  Much to his surprise, the company still has the contract and he continues to work for them.

-the cycle of working like crazy when you have a job and then being a bum when you don't have a job can be hard on a person AND his family. We don't seem them much when they are working and then we see them too much when they are not. Plus, they often get so used to working long days and many days in a row that when they are on a break they feel "useless" and therefore get really edgy. During working times, I find I also get really possessive of our weekends together as we don't have a ton of time during the week (though this is less so now that we are living closer to his work).

-there isn't a lot of reward for people who are solid and hard working. The Union is meant to treat everyone "equally" whether it is truly "fair" or not. Poor & lazy workers are often protected.

-sometimes "who you know" still gets you unfair advantages in the Union. It's not a perfect world and some people will still operate outside the systems.

-sometimes Politics, outweighs the Union agreements that are made. For instance, the Union agrees on contracts of how workers should be treated, paid, etc with Union companies. Then, some companies get "subcontracts" so to speak on how they don't have to abide by the contract agreements. Coincidently, some of those companies are Oil companies with deep pockets...

-there are often not enough jobs to go around.

-the jobs are often not in your hometown. Red Deer is the biggest non-Union center in Alberta. Thus why it made sense for us to move. The most prevalent areas right now with electrical jobs are Fort McMurray (which is isolated, yucky & has a high cost of living) and currently Fort Saskatchwan, though it is allegedly tapering off. Most Union jobs tend to be Industrial, vs Residental or Commercial.

So I hope that helps explain things a little more for people. It might help you to understand why we use the term "lay off" so casually (as it is the way you leave a contract job in the Union, firing is reserved for extreme cases).  Or help to explain why Tyler may be jobless for a certain time. If anything is still unclear, please do not hestitate to ask about it!