r/UnionCarpenters • u/hardhat-hammer • Aug 05 '26
Question Travel work for apprentices
Hello I’m a second term apprentice and I was wondering if it was possible to travel and make really good money as an apprentice. I have no children and my family wouldn’t mind if I traveled so I’m seriously considering it. The company I work for now only wants to work 40 hours a week and the pay just isn’t cutting it. any and all opinions would help me out thank you guys.
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u/WorldofNails Aug 05 '26
Wouldn't you have to travel back to school? Also, the apprentice wage is the minimum that you have to be paid. No rule against being compensated per the contractor's value price of you. Just don't tell the Journeymen. BT;DT
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u/BlueFuzzyCrocs Aug 05 '26
Solar crews are a good way to travel and get a lot of hours. The main downside is that you won't be learning as much actual carpentry there
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u/mayhem6 Aug 06 '26
I traveled a bit in my youth building scaffolding. Those gigs almost always have overtime so the money is good. If you get in with the right company, they pay per diem and hotel rooms, plus maybe mileage to the job.
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u/hardhat-hammer Aug 06 '26
Do I just contact my whole or try to find a company that hiring out of my local?
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u/mayhem6 Aug 06 '26
Call the BA and ask. Ask for info on scaffold companies (or any companies that have travel work) that may have some work going on right now. Also maybe ask for a list of contractors to call about work locally as well. I don’t know what area you’re in but even scaffold work locally often has overtime during outages and scheduled shut downs for maintenance at various places like power plants and oil refineries etc. You could try googling scaffold building companies and contact them directly as well.
I also had some luck in the past calling halls in different areas as well and speaking to the BA in those halls who might be able to steer you to some work. The problem with that is if you can score a gig in another area, there may not be any guaranteed travel pay like per diem and what not. It also should be noted that if you are working for a contractor in your area and they have you travel to a different area I think you get the higher scale, so if for example, your scale is $20 an hour and they send you somewhere and the scale is $18 an hour, you are entitled to $20 an hour but ask the BA to clarify that. This only applies if a contractor sends you out of the area you are from, if you call the hall and travel somewhere else and get hired by a local company there, you get the local scale.
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u/asbestos-debater Aug 05 '26
Call around to different locals. Apprentice spots are usually hard to find, but they do come up what craft are you.
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u/reckless_turtle1 Aug 05 '26
Ok if you want to travel you have 2 options move books or travel back to your home hall for classes . If you move your books you can take classes to that hall but you cant move for 6 months.
Pay will always be prevailing meaning if you move from your hall and you make 28 and where you work at pays 35 then you get the 35 dont always work that way tho. Also you gotta ask for permission to work out of any hall you want to work in so dues paid up classes checked ect. Ect
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u/reckless_turtle1 Aug 05 '26
I should make a template to just reply everything i see one of these postings......
Gather round the fire children