Crazedlifter said:
Damn you guys are harsh. I guess because I have different views I am not as good as you.
LOL....dont take it that way, we have a hundred or so union electricians working for our company, they are an interesting bunch....and of course the target of much humor around here so I cant help it.
Mind you, these guys have 18% of the market share of electrical work in LA/Orange County and are receiving a buck an hour in increases every 6 months.....all the while, the book at local 11 grows daily but damn they gotta have that wage increase. A general foreman now makes $ 38/hr in wage, roughly $ 16,500 per year in pension.....overall, between wage and burden, they cost us $ 134,118 per year plus a truck, plus a nextel, plus a gas card. Basically, each guy that runs big work for us costs us a buck and a half easy. Now cascade that down by $ 10K and you have the cost of a foreman....and every job, whether 80 hours or 800 hours has a foreman. Journeymen cost us $ 114,400 per year and we do not give them a nextel, nor a truck, nor a gas card. We need not bother talking about the apprenticeship because only 1 in 3 journeyman can work on his own and even fewer apprentices (as a percentage) are capable of doing much of anything.
What is also shocking is that a journeyman makes $ 31/hr.....now tell me where a guy with a high school education can go and earn the equivalent of an associates degree (in 4-1/2 years by the way) and make $ 64,480??? Its a great thing.....if there is work.
Now on the other hand, lets look at the non-union world. I compete on a daily basis against companies whose composite labor rate is $ 30/hr or less and my composite is usually $ 48-53/hr depending on the size of the project. Remember earlier how I mentioned that the union continues to get raises bi-annually? Remember how I mentioned that the union has an 18% market share? Well, there are a whole bunch of guy sitting at home with no work or.....from what I have been told by those who know, are out working for 20 bucks an hour cash on non-union jobs and sticking their union card in their shoe...........
Hopefully, this past 5 minute monologue paints a clearer picture of the reasons behind my playfulness with respect to union workers. They have essentially cut their nose off in spite of their face and are now slowly becoming members of the market sector that they soo ardently speak against at the union meetings....."wetbacks are taking all the work" followed by them taking a job for 20 bucks an hour cash running a crew of wetbacks.....and when they teach those wetbacks, the wetbacks will become smart enough to run their own crew and take that $ 20/hr job for 15.......
The unions have a tough row to hoe ahead of them as there is great disparity in the sentiments of working men and an unstable outlook for the future.
