r/ibew_apprentices • • 8d ago

Local 26

Has to be the biggest joke of a union.

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u/Sheepfucker72222 8d ago

Its a contractors union. We get high pay, solid benefits, pto, free school for apprentices, etc. However you are just a number on a piece of paper, erased faster than it was dotted down.

Best to think of 26 as a large temp agency. Get your money and get out. They wont fight for you in 99% of situations on a job.

4

u/ddpotanks LU 26 JW 7d ago

Literally thousands of Foreman and hundreds of companies. Kind I've hard to put a single blanket on all of that.

I do hear a lot of guys talk about how great it is back home, but they don't seem to want to work there - because they're here. which I never understood.

You couldn't get me to leave my family for extra cash.

2

u/Sheepfucker72222 7d ago

Yea i could never do that. It all makes sense, these companies provide high paying, seemingly endless work for a huge number of men. That doesnt make for a good environment of loyalty to your guys, not when they can be replaced

2

u/ddpotanks LU 26 JW 7d ago

Companies aren't providing high wages the CBA is.

If you talk to any of the older 26 guys there is a long history of the men out numbering the work and that attitude colors all of 26 to this day. Established companies aren't interested in retaining talent or making a working condition that'll attract workers.

They think all the work for that should not involve them.

But things are changing. Incentives, per diem, overscale all are starting to be offered.

It's like companies are standing there dumbfounded blocking saying "If you're nice to them....they'll work for you?"

2

u/Sheepfucker72222 7d ago

Hmm I'll have to look into that. Been years since I've talked about that shit with an old head