Union VS Non-Union

Wanting some unbiased opinions of being in a union vs non-union.

I recently finished my first semester of PipeFitting at my local union. Currently doing commercial pipe with the union. Now I’m making half of what I made monthly doing industrial scaffold.

I’ve asked the journeyman how much are they making weekly. They make $1200 a week after taxes 40 hours. Hourly pay is $37.03. First year apprentice makes $19.77. I make about $660 weekly now. I made $1400 weekly with scaffold doing 60 hours at $18 hourly $75 a day per diem

I’ve been working for about 4 months with this company and only worked 2 days of OT. I asked different journeyman if they usually don’t work OT. They said not usually or you “gotta look for it” aka know the right person. They might send you to another job-site, like to Galveston. Which is 50+ miles from me. Then I asked would they pay per diem or gas mileage? They said no, you gotta be out of west texas to get per diem. The plants I worked at doing scaffold world pay per diem for being 50 miles aways, 45 min-1 hour drive.

I’ve asked journeyman if the union does mostly commercial or industrial? They said commercial. I’m coming from an industrial background and these guys break so much safety rules. We start working as soon as we walk in. No JSA, No Hot work permits, Just vibes. In industrial, non-union, we don’t start working till a jsa and permit are signed plus safety meetings everyday. I thought unions were the ones to create all these rules, but don’t follow them? I’ve heard a story from a plumber about working in the rain in a hole. The hole started to fill up and he got electrocuted. In the plants if it barley starts sprinkling we stop work and go home…

Working on this union job I’ve seen the companies safety employee 2 times in 4 months vs industrial you’ll have 3 company safeties 24/7 and the plant safeties.

Commercial to me is more about production instead of safety even if it union. Industrial for scaffold was the same production “slaves drive.” But I would see the Pipefitters and welders waiting on us scaffold builder to build them a hooch, or them waiting on scaffold builders to modify a scaffold for most the day. So pipefitters got to chill most the day. Fit probably 3 pipes. This union job, we’ve already had to man handle heavy pipes that a crane could of lifted.

My reasons for learning pipe was to not slave drive and make more money, but that doesn’t seem that way with this union. I would of just stayed in scaffold.

So what are the perks of staying with the union? If I could go back to Industrial pipe make the same hourly, as a union journeyman, plus get pre diem?..