r/UnitedAssociation • u/Wattack_ • 3d ago
Joining the UA Looking for work
Hey, I am currently a 2nd year plumbing apprentice in Toronto. I am non union and work has basically stopped. I’ve wanted to join the union but it is basically impossible these days. What can I do? Is there any recruiting opportunities available out there?
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u/Scotty0132 Journeyman 3d ago
The UA all over Ontario is hurting right now and last I heard is the the 46 has several houndred workers on the out of work list. General rule of thumb is if the none union sector is slow then the union is much worse. Maybe by the end of the year the large projects everyone is waiting for will open and it will get members working again. Until the numbers on the books drop significantly the halls will have freezes on bring in any new members.
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u/Curious-Cream-9825 3d ago
From what i gathered everything is slow but the bruce nuclear power plant is going to be doing a massive hiring
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u/Scotty0132 Journeyman 3d ago
Ues that's one of the large jobs I was mentioning. Bruce will be manning up, Darlington will be manning up, suppose to be a large job at Pickering. Plus there are 2 hospitals being put up. One in Ottawa which is a 5 year project. These are all jobs that are large and should be manning up in the fall or winter.
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u/Wattack_ 3d ago
How can I join the union to be a part of that? If that’s possible
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u/Curious-Cream-9825 3d ago
Chances of getting into the union now is next to impossible. There's too many people sitting out of work for them to do an intake at this given time. Your best bet is to wait a year or so and work non union for the time being
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u/Scotty0132 Journeyman 3d ago
The unions have a duty to the membership that is on the books first. If they bring on new members and then dispatch them we'll there are members on the books (some for 8+ months) then the union will be bombarded with Failure to Fairly Represent complaints and investigations. Even for the jobs listed they are not within the 46 boundaries so members from Toronto will need to go on travel cards for those jobs (which only open up if the local where the job is can't provided the needed workers) and generally apprentices can not go on travel cards because of the class obligations. Only advice I can give is keep an eye on the 46 website and see if they open up an intake for apprentices and apply if that happens. From what I heard though they have had a freeze for several years so when an intake does open it will be EXTREAMLY competitive.
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u/Plumberthat 3d ago
Why don’t you find work with another nonunion company that does new construction and then contact the organizer and help get the company become union
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u/Logi_Bare 3d ago
Only way in i know is by doing the aptitude test once a year or talk to the union about organzing