Thread by @hahnscratch

Trade unions provide remarkable benefits to its members and offer protections to workers most wouldn't think of. A thread.

I am a member of @IBEW Local 617, which represents San Mateo County in California. Our membership includes inside wireman (residential, commercial, & industrial electricians) and sound & comm technicians (data & audio electricians). What follows refers to inside wiremen.

The journeyman hourly wage for inside wiremen is $74/hr. That is what goes to the check. The total package is $119.40/hr. Everything above that $74 is nontaxable fringe and benefits. Here is what the scale looks like:

"Wireman" is a journeyman and has completed 8000 hours of on the job training, roughly 1100 hours in the classroom, five years of apprenticeship, and a state licensing exam. Apprentices start at $25.90/hr and scale all the way to $62.90/hr in the final year of the program.

The $17.32/hr goes to health & welfare, which includes medical insurance and an HSA. Medical insurance is entirely covered by this rate, which costs nothing extra for a spouse and up to five dependents. The HSA ensures that any medical out of pocket expenses are covered.

We have the choice of PPO (Anthem) or HMO (Kaiser). I opt for the PPO and I am happy with it. I had upwards of $600k in medical expenses in 2021 and I came out of pocket $0 (I was responsible for $800 that year, all covered by the HSA). And there's this:

https://twitter.com/hahnscratch/status/1474436398274936832?s=20&t=ANwVS49O6Nkn7vuCpl_xXw

While on disability, all expectations to contribute toward healthcare premiums are suspended. Insurance continues throughout the period of disability. Supplemental disability, additional to state disability, is provided to the tune of about $1000 per month.

This means that no injury, illness, or family emergency will every cause a member to lose health insurance or even have to pay for it. It also means that disability compensation tracks at around 75% of total typical income, making it easier to manage the absence.

We contribute $20/hr hour to our principal retirement. It is defined contribution. In a 30 year career, people will contribute around $1.2 million to retirement, which (considering market growth) will be a good retirement for a tradesperson.

We also have a minimal pension with the international organization, something along the lines of $30/month for each year of service. That is just supplemental, not our main retirement.

There are other knick-knacks as part of the nontaxable fringe schedule, but they need not be mentioned here. Union dues are 3.5% of the wage ($74, not the $119.40). Thus, a 40-hour week totals $2960, of which about $100 are contributed as union dues. Totally worth it.

We have 3-year collective bargaining agreements. The most recent agreement was for roughly $18/hr over the 3 year period. We, as membership, vote how we want that money distributed (to wage, to retirement, etc). We are in the last year of our contract.

Moving on from the money to protections. I won't be able to mention everything because it is too extensive, but I want to share enough that you understand how well our local union protects membership from would-be abuse by employers.

Overtime. For a standard, M-F work week with 7 am start time, OT worked between 330-530 pm is 1.5x, or $111/hr. All other OT is 2x, or $148/hr. Come in early? Double time. Come in on weekends? Double time. There are no exceptions.

Overtime is intended as a penalty, not an opportunity. The penalty must be great enough that employers hesitate to have OT, and high enough that workers feel fairly compensated when spending unnecessary time away from home, family, personal life.

Breaks. The first and last breaks of the day are mobile and can be at variable times, though they cannot violate state law. The 12pm lunch break is nonnegotiable. Anybody asked to work between noon and 1230pm must be compensated at double time and then provided a paid lunch.

The penalty for working during lunch is, like overtime, high enough that employers must calculate if the task is important enough to ask it of employees. If there is no penalty, employers will grow to expect workers to work during lunch.

An employer cannot require or expect an employee to work overtime or work during lunch. It is always optional.

An employer must comply with scope of work requirements for different trade classifications. This means a contractor cannot employ cheaper, nonelectrical labor to perform the easier part of tasks related to electrical trade.

For example, we regularly run metal conduit through walls and the holes must be sealed with fire protection using causing. An electrical contractor cannot hire a laborer to follow behind the electricians with a caulking gun, sealing the holes we make. That is our work.

Respecting the work and scope of different trades is what prevents employers from outsourcing and finding cheap, unskilled labor to offset the cost of using skilled trades.

Tools of the trade. We have a tool list, all of which are hand tools w/ the exception of an electrical tester. This list is a maximum and minimum - all journeyman and apprentices must purchase these on their own. The contractor must purchase all other tools.

We are not allowed to purchase power tools or specialty tools and carry them on a job. We are only allowed to carry what is on the tool list. If the job requires a special tool, like a ladder or a pipe bender or a drill, the employer must purchase it. No exceptions.

Why the strict rules around tools? Simple. If we buy tools on behalf of an employer, the employer will eventually come to expect us to have those tools. They will stop providing them.

Furthermore, if workers are allowed to purchase their own tools, those with better economic conditions would have an unfair advantage over those without. This would give that worker the appearance of being more efficient, when they are not.

Employers must provide us with a phone if they want us to use a phone at work, provide us with a tablet or an iPad if they want us to use them. They must pay for internet if they want us to work at home (which is usually a big no-no anyhow). Those tools aren't on the tool list.

Employers must provide safe, lockable spaces to store our tools at work. They cannot expect us to carry them back and forth to our vehicles. Because our vehicles aren't on the tool list, we cannot use our vehicles to store or transport tools.

If we used our personal vehicles to store or transport tools, employers would start expecting us to continue to do so. Storing / transporting tools is a good way to have tools stolen.

If tools are stolen from a job site where they were secured, the employer is required to replace them all. This ensures the employer has incentive to provide well-secured areas for employee tools.

Parking. Employers must provide parking adjacent to the job site. If parking isn't adjacent, employers must provide transpiration to the site and pay for the time it takes to walk from the parking lot to the job. Employers must cover all fees related to parking.

Age protection. On all jobs requiring 5 or more journeyman, 1/5 must be over the age of 50 (if available). This means, when a job is downsized, an employer cannot simply lay-off all of the older workers.

Sanctity of Labor Day. An employer cannot ask an employee to work on Labor Day without special permission from union officials. I have never heard of it happening.

Paychecks. An employer cannot hold more than 3 days in pay past the end of a pay period (which is Monday thru Sunday). Thus, we are paid every Wednesday. If a check is late, the employer must provide 2 hours of pay for each day past Wednesday.

When an employee is laid-off or fired, the employer must provide a check for all labor rendered on the spot. Literally, on the spot. A laid-off or fired employee walks off the job with his/her check in hand.

Finally, trade unions are friendly to formerly incarcerated people such as myself. They accepted me when nobody else would.

https://twitter.com/hahnscratch/status/1614082889821589507?s=20&t=ANwVS49O6Nkn7vuCpl_xXw

Those are just some of the benefits and protections provided by my local @IBEW trade union. I hope it provides some insight into why unions are so important. I also hope it inspires others to unionize or, at the very least, ask for more from their employers.