r/IBEW

As it says. Strongly against AI data centers being built. Currently laid off. They're Probably gonna ask me to be on one. Obviously apprentices don't have a lot of say. What'll happen if I sincerely ask to not be out on any jobs related to these new data centers in my area?

Using this as a sound board for any input..

1st yr apprentice in my 30's a few months in now. My experience hasn't been quite what I had expected. I've always been mechanically inclined and already knew the tools and material so the work itself has gone well. Here's some of the 'problems' I've experienced so far.Placed with a smaller contractor and have worked with a JW/foremanwith 1 or 2 other apprentices. Other times I find myself working alone for several hours with nobody checking up with me which doesn't bother me entirely as I'm self sufficient but I worry I'm not learning enough along the way. And if those two scenarios are not the case it's a handful of us apprentices working together with no JW....blind leading the blind. We have a handful of Foreman's and jws that all came from a non union shop recently and some of their ways are bleeding over. Main foreman has openly said he thinks a lot of the union rules he thinks are stupid, any hand tools we may need we should buy even if not on the list and just because we work over 8 in a day doesn't mean we get OT and if we have an issue to come to him privately and 'see if we can find a way forward'. We neverseem to have enough or the right tools and materials on any job. I've tried talking to other apprentices and just get the 'im just glad to have a job' response and what gets me is even the jws we put calls in for say the same line about just being happy to get a paycheck. Thing is most of them recently came from non union shops too. My kneejerk reaction is maybe nationwide these test-ins need to have some union history and philosophy classes of some sort forced upon them.

It just seems like a lot of the reasons I decided to join union vs non are not panning out the way I thought. I'm going to see it through obviously but it's pretty disappointing that the 'brotherhood' I've experienced has no backbone and just happy to have a check.

Edit: I forgot to mention they have a shop kid working out in the field with us. Not a pre-apprentice or ce/cw or w.e.

Not sure if this fits here but I’m ibew and our night shift crew keeps stealing our food out the fridge, from the table, even tools out of our gang boxes and shutting off power to our setup so stuff in the fridge melts by the time we get in! Unfortunately I’m a tech and they are electricians so the electrician foremen don’t give a fuck and just say sorry “we’ll talk to them” but nothing changes. It feels personal even though we haven’t done anything malicious to them and have had zero contact w them the whole time we’ve been on this job. I wrote a note on the fridge asking them to pls stop because we have people with medical issues who need the fridge and they wrote “fuck you” on the note. I’m fed up and considering doing something even more rash but I’m settling for a more harmless prank like a laxative or super hot sauce. Has anyone else had something similar happen? What have you done? Our foreman already bought us new locks and whatnot but that doesn’t stop them from stealing other stuff.

I’ve heard people talk about doing this but I’m curious if anyone has firsthand experience for how it goes in reality. I’m a non union lineman considering joining the union.

Has anyone worked their minimum hours to maintain healthcare and benefits and spent the rest of their time running a side business?

Now I have a question. I got laid off and decided to go union. It took a really long time to get everything done and I was straight forward with that couldn’t be off for more than another week. While doing all my paper work I got a job, non union. My question is should I tell my current company I’ll be leaving once I win a bid? Or just disappear. I feel like the right thing to do is a heads up but I don’t want them to kick me to the curb.
What would you do?

In recent years political discourse has shifted dramatically towards wealth redistribution. Tax the Wealthy! Cut Military Spending! Pass Universal Healthcare! One would think these ideas are new!

Universal Healthcare as a human right is Not a NEW Concept in the U.S. However, if you are like me, then you were unaware that this conversation is older than your kids. If you were born in the 2000's you probably think this conversation is recently started.

This conversation was happening in the 90's too! The wealthy have stolen 80 trillion from workers since 1974! It's long past time we take it back through progressive taxation! It's our money!

Let's Talk About It ! ✊🏽

“Trump administration is canceling a Biden-era effort to speed up power line construction in parts of Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas…”

Wife of an IBEW electrician here, so hopefully you guys don’t mind me asking. I’ve been reading through some of the Boise/Local 291 posts on here and figured this might be the best place to ask people who have actually dealt with this.

My husband and I are planning to move our family from Southern California to the Boise area. We have two little kids (a baby and a toddler), so we’re trying to figure out the least chaotic way to make the jump.

My husband is already on the books in Boise and is working on getting his Idaho license squared away. The part we’re struggling with is the actual timing of the move when he won’t technically have the job in hand until he’s physically there and takes a call.

We’ve kicked around a few options:

• He goes to Boise alone, stays in a hotel, takes a call and starts working, then comes back to California so we can move the family up together. The downside is he’d have to take time off almost immediately after starting because moving with two little kids is basically a two-day trip for us.
• We all move to Boise at once and stay in an Airbnb while he gets dispatched, then find a long-term rental. That gives us some flexibility, but I’d be handling the house hunting/tours with a baby and toddler while he’s working 6–7 days a week.
• We rent a house before leaving California and just make the move. This would probably be the easiest logistically, but signing a lease before he actually has a call/job in hand makes my husband understandably nervous, even though it sounds like there’s plenty of work.

For those of you who have traveled or completely relocated to another local/state with a wife and young kids, how did you handle that in-between period?

Did you secure housing first and trust that the work would be there? Did the working spouse go ahead of the family for a while? Airbnb/hotel until everything was settled? Something else we haven’t thought of?

We’re not looking for guarantees about the Boise work situation as much as trying to learn how other IBEW families have handled a big relocation without putting themselves in a bad position financially or making the move unnecessarily difficult.

Any experience or advice would be really appreciated.

I feel like I’m going stir crazy and I’m not really sure what to do.
I recently joined last week and became a member then and there after I filled out the paperwork and then I just left I didn’t talk to anybody else. The person at the desk told me to contact the person that had originally called me to join so I told him that I would.
I tried to reach out didn’t get an answer from him ended up speaking with somebody else about four days later so I go in and he gives me the rundown of kind of what to expect and that’s it. I’m on my way.
I think I got the gist of it. I am looking at the app and waiting for a job, but I feel like I’m missing something I’m coming in as a journeyman which I know is not ideal believe me. I was wanting to join a lot sooner, but never did because I don’t know. I guess I was just always influenced by people I was working with to stay also my living situation wasn’t ideal.
I was not informed when I first became a member of anything literally anything
I was not told that I had to quit my job so now I have been out of work for a few days now with no pay I was not told how to really navigate this not everything was on the table before I made membership.
I have tried to call the hall two different people plus a dispatcher and I haven’t heard anything back. I don’t know if I’m just overthinking this or what but now I’m just starting to second-guess everything.
Is this normal to just not have work like this right off the bat like I just don’t know what to do

What pages and forums to follow in regards to where work is at, my local has a fb page, and I already know about where2bro

Well my fellow Electricians. I had to salt for work as work had slowed down and boy let me tell you I'm thankful to be apart of the union. (I called the hall regarding salting and they said yes but I would need to stay in contact every week and bid on jobs) Working non union past week has been a nightmare, false promises, no safety, buy $500 worth of extra tools, limit to only 2 pairs of gloves each month etc. it's been ridiculous and I didn't know some non union companies were this bad. To add the cherry on top we had worked a full 8 hours from 7-3 without any lunch break or getting paid the extra half hour of OT. They always wonder why people leave the trade is because they take advantage of hard working people who are just trying to make some money and go home. You have one foreman who is running 3 projects only getting paid $45/hr CAD. You promise workers job sites that are close to home only to send them into traffic for 3/4 hrs a day just to make a damn living. I would've just been better off to sit at home if you didn't give me false promises.

I'm hoping the hall calls me back next week for a bid I put in. I'm not saying all non union companies are bad but this is a ridiculous move by some companies to exploit others to make money.

Hello, is there anybody in Local 3 (NYC) who isnt in the standard EE division?

If so, what is it like? Do you take cover for other trades sometimes? I have a lot of questions so, 18yr looking to become apprentice

(P.S) I didnt mean EE sorry I meant A division

I'm getting old, lol

Hello all,

I am an Inside Wire JW for Local 46. I've been working for the last 7 years, really only getting about a week of vacation once per year and the occasional 3-day (non-holiday) weekend. I am a fairly solid and dependable worker. I love my work, but it consumes so much of my energy.

I'm an artist and a musician in the little bit of free time that I have. I've been placed on stand by twice for a few weeks at a time in the past when the company is waiting for jobs to get going, and I used that time to marathon art and music projects, whether it's comics, animation, or working on an album. It got me to thinking:

What if I could schedule a kind of sabbatical for 6 months or so? Has anyone done extended unpaid leave and been able to come back to work? How did you go about asking for it?