Union vs. Non Union
Hi! My husband is a sprinkler apprentice (he’s finished his 1st year) with a non-union company. He’s always heard that it’s bad being in a union but never can get answers as to why. At first glance, to me at least, union sounds like it has good benefits! I was looking into 669 district 18 for him, but also we aren’t sure how it all works and if there’s different unions around?
He currently makes $21/hr, he does get overtime frequently and has been working a lot of weekends. He does pay for health/vision/dental/life insurance for him and our daughter, and just vision and dental for me. It’s about 100 per paycheck (weekly) for those benefits. He does get 401k benefit matching and does also get put onto scale pay jobs sometimes. I’m not sure how these all compare to what union benefits run.
I guess my question basically is should he wait until he finishes the apprenticeship schooling and gets a license and then think about moving over or should he try now? Are there good non-union companies in that area? His company now is kind of falling apart and it’s honestly just stressing all the fitters out. He knows dry systems, plastic, steel, (probably more I’m not sure about). He prefers commercial jobs not residential. Has osha10, lift, and cpr certifications.
ETA: he currently just has to provide his own hand tools (levels, tape measure, screwdrivers, wrenches, etc) (which do occasionally get stolen off the jobs and he has to replace them out of pocket). He also has 3 years experience on the job, just 1 year of the schooling.