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Commonly Asked Questions This page answers some questions commonly asked by prospective members. To get your questions fully answered, contact us through email or give us a call at 425-277-6680.
What are the wages and benefits? Wages and benefit packages are dependent on what classification and/or which contract you are working under. How much do I have to pay in dues? Dues are also subject to which classification you are working at. Our Building Trades Classifications pay the most in dues and assessments. These dues are established by a vote of the member's who pay them. Currently Building Trades members pay $25.25 per month basic dues, 1.75% of their gross taxable income for working assessments and $1.10 per hour special assessment (Work Recovery Program, Rebound and Organizing). This is on a package which is currently worth a total of $41.26 per hour. Compare this with the dues you pay as a nonunion worker. Example: If you make $31.46 per hour total package(wages and benefits), this means that you subsidize your employer $10 per hour for every hour you work. That's $20,000 per year and over ten years that's $200,000, which you have paid in nonunion dues. Thinking about it in those term's, makes intelligent people realize that union dues don't cost, they pay! How
do I get involved in the training programs? I consider myself a journeyman. Do I have to take a test? Upon your application for membership, your skills will be evaluated and if there are areas of the trade which you have had little experience, training or knowledge, you will be encouraged to participate in upgrading your skills to make you more marketable to our employers. Our contractors pay the best wages and benefits in the industry and they deserve to have the best trained mechanics. I have heard that union mechanics are always out of work. If that were true, we doubt that we would have any members of this organization. A large group of our members are construction workers, who by the nature of the work are subject to ups and downs in the market. That's part of the business, even in the nonunion sector. Local 32 currently has approximately 140 contractors signatory to our master labor agreement. These contractors, through the terms of our agreements, hire exclusively from our hiring hall. In 1999, Local 32 members worked for signatory contractor for a little over 2 million man hours. That's a lot of people, installing a lot of pipe. Union boss will tell me what to do. Union leaders are elected by the members and accountable to the members. If we don't like how our leaders are doing their jobs, we can vote them out of office. But it's important to understand that we're in a fight for our future, for our craft and for our industry. Our leaders must be prepared to take the initiative, be decisive and coordinate our activities. And we have a responsibility to each other to work together in a group so we can maximize our power and win. I'll have to go out on strike. We understand that strikes are tough and we'd only strike if we had to. But did you know that only 2% of all contract negotiations end up in a strike? The employers don't generally want a strike any more than the employees do so everyone has an incentive to reach an agreement. But sometimes employers put us in a position where we have to take a stand and fight for what we believe in by going on strike. They just want my dues money. Dues are voted on by the members. Unions, like other membership organizations, need their members to pay dues to pay the bills and keep the organization intact. It pays for the phone and other office expenses, and it pays for peoples' time and effort. And it's a way for members to have a stake in the organization. Union dues pay for representation. And we get a lot for our dues money. Our dues pay the costs of negotiating and enforcing a contract, support the local union and international union, and provide for the services of lawyers, economists, and educators. Dues pay the salaries of officers and staff, and cover a wide range of costs such as for newsletters, conferences, phone bills and other office expenses. Consider that unrepresented workers on average make 30% - 50% less in wages or salary than unionized workers do. You can call this difference "nonunion dues" because unrepresented workers pay the price every day of working without a union contract. I'll have to pay an initiation fee. Many organizations require that new members pay an initiation fee. Union have sometimes used initiation fees as a barrier to new memberships. But that's not our intention. We see an initiation fee as a way to show commitment and to have a stake in the union. We don't want it to be a barrier so if it's difficult to pay the initiation fee at one time, we'll work it out so that you pay it over time. They'll throw me off the job. Unions used to do this and we now know it was wrong. Our goal is to bring into the union every worker who works with the tools of our trade. This means greater bargaining strength for all of us. We're genuinely interested in your being in the union. I will work only part of the year. If you're working more than some union members, consider why. It's because you're paid less. And that is bad for all of us because it contributes to a downward spiral - work will go to whoever works for less. We're out to establish uniform standards and wages throughout the industry so that workers don't compete over wages but get jobs based on skill and productivity. In the union you have greater employment opportunities than an individual working nonunion. You have full access to union signatories through our referral system. And if union work is slow, you can still also work for a targeted nonunion contractor as a union salt. Unions are corrupt. Corruption exists within every sector of our society. Institutions, other than unions, such as savings and loans, banks, and governments, have shown in recent years a much greater tendency toward corruption. The actual incidence of corruption within unions is quite small. Where it does exist, it must be cleaned up. And unions are subject to laws, rules and regulations that are often tougher than those applied to other institutions. They want the contractor, not me. That was true once but not now. We realize that everyone working with the tools of the trade belong in the union. That's what will give us bargaining strength. If we had to choose between bringing you or the contractor into the union, we'd take you because we know that if the union controls the supply of construction workers, we'd get the contractors too. Membership's not guaranteed. This organization wants everyone who works in the trade to become members. In years past, we kept people out. We now know that was wrong. We want everyone in and we'll provide opportunities for construction workers to upgrade their skills and not use skill level as a barrier to keep people out. I will get fired. It's illegal for an employer to fire you because you join or support the union but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. You might get fired for standing up for what you believe in. Just remember that if you did get fired, you won't be abandoned. We take this very seriously. The union will do everything it can to fight an illegal firing. And, in the meantime, there will likely be opportunity for you to work either for a union signatory or as a salt on a nonunion job. Employer is stronger than the union. That may be true if you believe it. But if enough of us stick together, the boss will have to deal with us. By organizing we'll build the power to win. I've heard the construction unions and trades have a history of being racist and/or sexist. Whenever we encounter racist or sexist attitudes, there's an opportunity to talk about the value and importance of solidarity and the union's organizing mission. It's in our self-interest as workers to band together for mutual aid and support. Our strength, our bargaining power to win better wages and conditions, is in our unified numbers. Just as we've learned that union and nonunion workers need to get together, we know that we need to bring everybody working with the tools of the trade into our organization. And as we learn to work together through concerted activity, we'll get to better know each other and see that what we have in common is so much greater than any differences. We also begin to see and understand people as individuals and this too helps to break down barriers. Concern of your spouse. A main concern for a wife or husband is, quite understandably, the economic well being of the family and household. Here unionization can make a very big difference. Union work almost certainly means better pay, benefits such as pension and health care, improved jobsite safety, and far greater opportunities for training and employment. Even if your working spouse now has certain benefits such as health care, a union plan could result in better coverage and real-savings through co-payments. And union representation means that standards are set in writing by contract with protections against arbitrary firing and other discipline. I'm happy with my contractor. Employment is, above all else, a business arrangement. And it's really a question of fairness. The contractor benefits, makes a profit, from the workers' time, skill, and energy. An employee "sells" these in exchange for a wage. Without a union, the contractor is essentially free to set the wages and determine other terms and conditions of the job. But with a union, the employees have a voice so that wages and conditions are arrived at jointly. To get your questions fully answered, contact us through email or give us a call at 425-277-6680.
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