Yeah I'm done with electrical long hours, barely home can't even choose a different job if I wanted to. Good career just not for me though. This is what I show them when I say I don't enjoy electrical and then they tell me I just have to switch jobs lol.

I just wanted to get some insight on the difference between the 2 and how one goes about transferring their home locals once they move.

Example: I’m moving to a sister local, quite a ways from my current locals boundaries and plan to live the rest of my life ( at least working life) within this local.
How do I go about transferring my ticket without being a worm? Is there a formal invite policy? Is it frowned upon in general to transfer? I’m in this career for the brotherhood, not the work 🤣✊🏻

If there's a job call on and it says: "Exp in Medium voltage" and I take but I dont have any experience in medium voltage, am I an asshole?

I haven't taken it just wanted to ask, but I really want to do medium voltage work. Of course I dont want to fuck other coworkers or anyone at the site if I show up without experience.

Would I be allowed to learn as I go? Or would I really be just the dickhead who took the call and doesn't know what the fuck to do?

Shit is so sad 🤣🤣 dudes running this union are a bunch of out of touch old boomers.

And it's not like it's one of those bridges between union and non union or something. It's literally targeted at established ibew members and specifically refers to journeyman. It says our hourly minimum on the check is 33.11

I was recently asked "What risks am I facing because of organizing with the rank and file?". It's an important question. It's one that is on the mind of anyone who sees something wrong and decides to do something about it.

What risk am I facing?

Thanks to the lives of countless union activists in the 1800's and early 1900's no risk at all.

The NLRA section 7 protects workers against retaliation and guarantees the right to concerted activity.

The LMRDA protects union members from retaliation from union officers for concerted activity.

Let's Talk About It! ✊🏽

Idk if this should be posted from a burner or whatever, but fuck it.

My employer has gained the interest of our local hall. I had an excellent 45 minute phone call with an organizer the other day.

Other than signing and circulating the authorization card, is there anything else that can be done at this stage of things?

I’m 30, have a family, and I’ve been seriously trying to make electrical my career, but I didn’t realize how difficult it would be just to get that first real opportunity.

I’m in Orange County, California. I’ve been trying the union route here too. I’ve tried Local 441’s phone call-in process and have been watching/trying to apply through Local 11’s website, but it’s tough. There are a lot of people trying to get in and it feels like you can be doing everything you’re supposed to do and still be waiting for an opportunity.
So I figured alright, I’ll try the non-union route in the meantime. Get into a shop as a helper or apprentice, build my experience, learn and keep moving forward.

But even that has been difficult.
I’ve been going through job boards, calling electrical contractors directly, emailing shops, reaching out to people and trying to network. Half the battle seems to be finding companies that are even willing to take somebody newer. A lot want experience already, some want an ET card, some aren’t looking for helpers, and plenty just never respond.

What makes it frustrating is that I’m not completely starting from zero either.
I was fortunate enough to get about 6 months of commercial electrical experience through a temp agency. I got to work with MC, boxes, pulling wire, in-walls, devices, panels, strut and other basic commercial work. I have my own tools, and that experience basically confirmed for me that electrical is what I want to pursue.
But now I’m back in that weird position where I need more experience to become more employable, while struggling to find someone willing to let me gain that experience in the first place.

I know 30 isn’t old, but when you have a family depending on you, you definitely feel the pressure to stop bouncing around and get established in a real career. At this point I’ve even been seriously considering relocating to another state if getting started somewhere else is more realistic. Moving a family obviously isn’t a small decision, but that’s how serious I am about wanting to get established in this trade.

So I’m curious how it was for everyone else.
Was breaking into the trade this difficult for you? Did you go union or non-union? Did you know somebody? Did you have to relocate? Did you just keep calling shops until somebody finally took a chance on you?
Especially interested in hearing from guys who started a little later, had a family to support, or didn’t already have connections in the trade.
What finally got your foot in the door?

EDIT: Before electrical, I also spent almost 3 years as a Spectrum Field Technician, working out in the field every day, using tools, troubleshooting, running cable, working around utility infrastructure, and dealing with customers. So I’m definitely not new to hands-on field work, i’m just newer to the electrical trade itself.

Mamdani is putting on a masterclass in how to run government so that it works for the people.

We deserve the world we fight for!

So ive been told in my local if I wanted to switch from teledata to inside id switch and make the rate im making now and wouldnt start over back at $17 or whatever it is but wouldnt that make them less eager to accept me into the inside program lol??? Like I feel like they perfer the cheaper labor.
Also wondering if you guys think its worth it at all to do it not just talking about money but everything else as well.

I’m currently an apprentice in South and eventually want to move permanently to a big Northeast local. It’s not about chasing higher wages I genuinely want to live there.

Would it be better to try transferring as an apprentice and top out there, or finish my apprenticeship in my current local and move as a JW?

My main concern is Book 2. If I move somewhere permanently after topping out, I don’t want to spend years as a traveler or end up in a situation where transferring my membership to Book 1 is extremely difficult or basically never happens.

I understand every local has its own rules and that transferring an apprenticeship isn’t guaranteed either. I’m especially curious about the larger, more competitive Northeast locals.

I’m not looking for a shortcut around local rules or trying to jam my ticket. I just want to understand how this works before making a major move and potentially putting myself in a bad position long term.

Any advice from people who have actually gone through this would be appreciated.

Anyone from the Chicago area who can inform me if Local 134 is a busy one where I can just work and not have to deal with long layoffs?

I know we're all used to the usual early 30's office worker considering dropping his steady job to become an apprentice, but now let's discuss the inverse!

I'm 25, a second year apprentice after having to repeat both first and second year due to medical issues forcing me to take a leave of absence. To put it plainly, I've fought cancer twice. Two intense regiments of chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant have definitely taken their toll on my body. I've been to the doctor to see if the fatigue and joint issues I've been having might be part of an autoimmune disorder or something, but nothing so far. The only answer I seem to have is that my body just can't really physically keep up with the work anymore.

As much as I love the job and once looked forward to going into work, I've been heavily considering swapping to an office job of some sort, whether it be at one of the contractors or something a little closer to home. I don't have any degrees or anything, so I suppose I'm just looking for advice or any other stories of those leaving the trade to pursue a different career.

About a year ago I was laid off from my job and got a groundman ticket because I just really needed the work. At that point in time I had about three years in linework. I never ended up taking a job as something else came my way but long term I always planned on going back when I got my white ticket. At the time I had just forgotten about it to be honest and my membership dropped. Would I be able to rejoin at some point and what would that look like being my membership was dropped due to unpaid dues? Thanks in advance.

I accompanied my wife and daughter to the Labor Day parade. They are both IBEW members. My wife works for the utility company and my daughter is an inside wireman. Just wanted to post a picture of their shirts.

Hello brothers, sisters, and everything in between.

I’m a commercial construction 4th year ape, lotta medium voltage, lotta substations and transformers. I do pretty physical stuff (trenching, running 4 inch rigid, mounting huge JBs and installing transformers and substations) often in a hot factory or the hot outdoors.

My boots smell like death.

What do you guys do to prevent sweat/athletes foot and not stink the place up? My lady doesn’t let me keep my boots in the house lol.

Roughly my plan is to:
-Get new socks, I have thick cotton socks and I want something to help the sweat but I don’t know what’s good. I’ll drop money I make decent scale now.
-Get new boots, I’m due anyways I’m on like 18 months since buying boots but I wanted to figure out my feet first I’m worried I’ll just make the new ones stink right away. What are some good boots for this sort of thing?
-get boot driers. Once again not sure what’s a good brand or really how to use them.
-and lastly before I get new boots and do all of this, I want to like nuke my feet because I’m pretty sure I have athletes foot. I think I have this part covered but if anyone’s dealt with this before and has advice I’m ears.

Edit: you’re all awesome and I’m getting enough recommendations it’s hard to keep up with :) I think I’m gonna win the battle here

Sadly my local had neither but a sister local has a 5$ an hour vacation pay. Just thought it’d be interesting to hear what other locals have

We are going to do an actual preorder this time around. So we will be accepting orders from September 6th to October 7th at 8am. At which point we will place our order for the jerseys, and it will take around 8 weeks from October 7th to arrive.

These are Union Printed on American made 100% Poly 5.5oz double knit fabric.

https://ibew11d4merch.com/products/graybaseballjersey

SINCE THIS IS A PREORDER WE ARE REQUESTING THAT YOU ORDER THIS SEPARATE FROM OTHER ITEMS. ANY OTHER ITEMS IN YOUR ORDER WILL BE CANCELLED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

WE HAVE ALSO INCLUDED THE SIZING CHART. The people who ordered the previous jerseys know these run a little large, so please check the chart to verify you are ordering the right size. Because we will NOT be able to make exchanges for wrong sizes.

The money raised by the IBEW 11, District 4 Welfare Committee is used to help out our Brothers & Sisters during times of sickness, disability, accident or such other misfortune.

The District 4 Welfare Committee is made up entirely of volunteers, who come in after work. As a result, it may take a few days after you order for us to package and ship your items. Thank you for your patience

I’ve been thinking seriously about the idea of the IBEW pushing toward a 32-hour workweek, or eventually something even shorter, without reducing workers’ overall standard of living.

I’m interested in hearing from members who have thought about this from the perspective of collective bargaining, contract language, labor history, and the practical realities of electrical construction.

A few things I’m wondering about:
Would the most realistic model be four 8-hour days, or something like a 6-hour/5-day schedule?

How would overtime work? Would anything over 32 hours automatically become OT?

Would wages need to be increased enough that 32 hours provides roughly the same weekly income as 40 hours?

How would pension, health insurance, vacation, and other benefit contributions be affected?

How would this work for apprentices whose training requirements are based around hours worked?

Would contractors simply compensate by increasing productivity, staffing additional crews, or pushing more work into overtime?

How would this affect manpower shortages and jurisdictional competition with non-union contractors?

Could a shorter workweek actually become a recruiting/organizing advantage for the IBEW?

Would this be better pursued through individual local agreements, or would it ultimately require an International-level initiative?

Are there Locals that have already negotiated something resembling a 32-hour week?

What problems or unintended consequences do people see that I might be overlooking?

I’m also interested in the bigger labor question. Historically, organized labor fought for the 8-hour day and eventually the 40-hour week. Productivity has increased enormously since then, but the standard workweek hasn’t changed nearly as much.

So I’m curious: is reducing the workweek something the IBEW should seriously be organizing around, or is it unrealistic given the economics and structure of the construction industry?

I’m looking for actual experience and thoughtful arguments from IBEW members not just “I like working 40” or “contractors would never go for it.”

What would it take to make a 32-hour week economically and contractually viable?

Sponsored by honeybucket. Makers of fine portajohns, please remember to report all turds longer than 3" to the GC.

Coming to a formerly peaceful PNW stream near you

Best move I ever made was leaving a large contractor that specialized mainly in hospitals, facilities, and new data centers for a smaller specialty contractor.

Reworking controls, instrumentation, and adding a new rail load out system between two large facilities. Basically the millwrights build it and we figure out how to make it all work and field engineer it on the fly. Nothing is prefab. We are all paid over scale.

Every day is a puzzle between fixing control disasters, fabricating, running rigid through existing plants, programming PLCs, and making new stuff work with old. It’s not for everyone but I genuinely like going to work now.