Did I make the right call?

"If I got married to a woman with 25 kids.." whoa Roger sir, let's calm down here hahaha😂..great video as always!

If I had 25 kids, I would work union every waking moment. Not because I need the money or the insurance, but because I don't want to go home!

I was a union member for 25 years. One of the biggest complaints I had with the union was if you didn’t agree with their political views you were an outcast. I also hated that part of my dues would go to corrupt politicians that the union leaders were in bed with!

i have been part of a couple of unions, they both were very happy to collect dues, but when you actually needed them they left me and others without lifting a single finger to help

One thing that I really love about this man is even though he's been hurt and ripped off by people he thought he could trust he still doesn't let it all get to him and he still has a good attitude. That's a great sign of leadership

...shortly after the release of this video Roger Wakefield went missing...

I REALLY needed this video. As a teenager who has spoke to both union and non union representatives its nice to see a outside perspective.

I literally am the least handy man and have no interest in any of this stuff yet I keep watching Santa's content. Keep up the good work!

Roger, I'm sad to here you've been black balled, I was hoping they weren't like that after i left Dallas and transferred. You were one of my instructors 5 or 6 years ago and the best class was the green energy/gray water subjects. I hope your new venture will get your what you want. Definitely be challenging for sure.

As a non union plumber in Oregon prevailing wage is better. 65-85 dollars a hour is awesome

I was in a union for 8 months, they took on average $1200 a month for dues and other various fees and when we had a legitimate concern they literally said “what do you want us to do “. They informed me after I quit that it would be impossible to work as a plumber in that town without being union. They were wrong.

Local 5 out of DC has an amazing training facility. They have great service classes that teach residential plumbing, water heater troubleshooting, snaking, jetting, camera

Want to say thank you for the inspiration. Been watching you awhile now and it helped me narrow down what I want to do in life. I'm 22 and starting my first day as an apprentice tomorrow. Thank you Roger.

Myself I have been a member of 344 in OKC for 40-years, 25 as a member only and 15 years as a contractor. I am second generation member of this local, and have always been proud of that. When I first started, in business, my son was at my side as we turned no work down to survive. 15 years later we have 70 employees and competing with contractors that have been at this since way before my time. We have a wonderful team at our Local union. Yes we have our differences at negotiating time when they are pushing for more pay and benefits for the members, and us contractors pushing for the opposite in order to stay competitive against the non-union contractors. I am glad to offer the great pay and benefits that were always offered to me. Im not telling you it was easy at first, it was not. But with hard work, determination. and honesty, it can be done. I am glad to be able to have remained a union contractor. We do pretty much everything from a 4 million dollar job, to a one sink add in a downtown office building, We dont turn a lot of work down, but seem to always keep a fairly steady work flow to keep our employees with a 40 hour check, and sometimes a lot of overtime. We have great bunch of guys, and if they were lazy they would not be working for me.. We do plumbing and HVAC service, (but not a lot of residential.) remodels and new construction, schools, hospitals, office buildings, hydronic piping, medical gas piping, backflow testing, pump, AHU ,boiler, and chiller replacements. We are in several Hospitals right now running larger oxygen lines to help keep Covid patients alive because the current lines are not large enough for the oxygen demand. There are a lot of members off of work now because of the pandemic. We recently hired more certified med gas installers to complete these tasks. One issue I see is that with all the members off of work, how few off of work dont have that certification. Our union training school is awesome and offers training for this along with backflow testing, plumbing licensing for fitters, HVAC licensing for plumbers, CFC recovery, welding, OSHA training (which is mandatory on a lot of projects) confined space training etc... The union cannot force the members to take these classes. I always went and received all the training offered, and carried all the licenses I could obtain,. This does nothing but make you more desirable when employees need to hire people again. And by the way I was an instructor before I went in business, but the time I had to dedicate to that forced me out of that.

I was in a union for 8 years and long story short, being on the autism spectrum it was a social nightmare to me and the union went from telling me that I was welcome to going to their union office till one day I went there and they berated me on if I had an appt. there when I wanted to make a friendly visit. Furthermore, they stonewalled me for some reason in giving me a seat at the table to interview Presidential candidates for the 2020 election. Finally when I aired my grievances with the union I was in they seemed to have ghosted me and I don't think they'll want me back again. Now that I'm in a non-union job I get much more respect, value and dignity from my boss and patrons.

I was in the IBEW working industrial construction. I left when I took a maintenance job. Honestly, there are good things about the union, but as a worker I feel the bad outweighs the good. In all my union jobs we had an adversarial relationship with the employer and that was hard for me and caused many people not to care. There is also the extra layer of politics. Training was amazing, but it was rare to actually use that training in the field. I was trying to get my instrumentation apprenticeship, that was next to impossible. Now I've been non union with my company for 5 years, 3 years as an electrician and now I am working on automation and programming on a DCS and I do not have an adversarial relationship with my employer.

My dad retired as a union carpenter (50 years!) And it gave everything to our family. This is a damn shame. Union labor is already so rare in the US and it not supporting contractors who want to us their labor is appalling.

I got out because I was irritated that I kick butt and was getting the same pay as the lazy butts and screw-ups. I enjoy being incentivized by my top pay and bonuses.

If I found out a girl I were dating had 25 kids then I would run for the hills! xD

You hit the nail on the head. The union doesn't work for residential service. Hourly for residential service kills your sales numbers.

You have a glorified view of Unions. I would say the core is rotten and their are some good intentioned people. I talked with a 50 year old plumber several years back, he had been laid off for a couple years, and the amount he was getting from the union was not covering the bills, and he was about at the end of what he could borrow. There were non-union jobs available but if he took one he would have to pay substantially more to be in the union, and that would leave him in the same boat he was already in. Further he had found that, being older, most large companies didn't want to pay the level of wages the union was guaranteeing him. These unions hook in young people with fantastic wages and benefits, that are well above what they are worth, and when they get old they get a fraction of what they need to cover basic living expenses, due to the fact that nobody will higher them. It is so backward it just makes me boil, its a such an EVIL way to treat people. Then there is their history of brutally beating or kill people for crossing picket lines. Or them intimidating voters that want government mandated unions rained in or eliminated. Unions are just large corporations, with mega wealthy CEO's and upper management, that have been granted a level of legal protection, by the politicians they've bought, that no other business gets. And if things go sideways the government will bail them out, by STEALING my money. Or if they get in trouble they got politicians and Attorney Generals in their pockets to make it go away. Also keep in mind unions are anti-capitalist, they don't want people going out and starting their own small businesses. They want to make the big companies bigger as the unions can get more money out of larger companies. Also fewer (large) companies makes it easier to raise prices (hurting the poor) and the unions can get more of those profits. What they were in the early 1900's was a good idea, now they are the very problem they were fixing 100 years ago, and I would say 100 times more evil.

Hey Roger, this is spot on! You put in a video everything I have said out here in Chicago for years. I am a 10 year former union plumber turned residential service plumbing company owner. Amen Brother!

I'm an apprentice at Union 519 in Miami Fl, they do an excellent job here training both sides of the industry, commercial and residential.

Grievance hearings are already decided days before. The hearing itself is just a "going through the motions" act.

Roger, I came up Union through the 5 year apprenticeship program and then some... I now have my Masters and in the startup phase of building a residential service plumbing company. I appreciate your videos. It would be nice to talk to you in person one day. It looks like we have a lot in common through our career experiences. Have a good one, brother.

Your view is correct, I’m a union millwright , there is a small group with in the group that stay busy. It’s a buddy club. The training is great, but the work not so much.

I can only speak for my UA local, the best working decision of my life was to join the brotherhood. Retired member with a great pension.

Yes, you made the right decision from an employer's perspective. I know it's not cheap to be a signatory contractor and the Union wants their money regardless of your money situation. They need to focus on increasing their market share in the building trades, to create more opportunities so it can be prosperous to be Union. They know what problems they face but their strategies aren't working.

When u subbed to him, and ur subscriptions part is full of his vids Me: but im not a plumber

Absolutely agree! It pissed me off that through nepotism we have a guy on our crew who can tie his shoes,but he makes the same money as me! Not to mention he works alot of OT,because he just can't manage time,it sucks!

Depends a lot on where you live, here in new jersey the unions are pretty strong and we have commercial and residential divisions and the benefit of being a union contractor is pretty substantial. It does suck that they screwed you over though, I don't blame you at all for getting out after that

Hi Roger thank you for making this, I'm dealing with this exact dilemma right now only for electrical and I think you hit it right on the head. Love the channel and all the best

Different perspective, I'm a welder and when I first got started I tried to go into the pipefitters union. Long story short, it was a total cluster. You don't get in unless you've got a friend to get you there, or you're a grandmaster schmoozer. Later in my career I tried a second time, different local, different state, same story. IMHO, unions are positioned where they could be awesome, but I think they are all crooked to the core. I don't think you can fix a system that broken. I don't begrudge anyone that goes union, but right now on the whole, I think they do more harm than good with anything they touch.

As someone who might have to call a plumber for any reason, the biggest thing that I did NOT hear was any sort of consumer protection. I inherently heard the exact opposite "The union is there to protect (and benefit) its members and it will take it's members side over any consumer." As a home owner if/when I called out a plumber I'm most likely to avoid union members simply because if there is a problem I've got a single person / company to deal with, not all the resources of a union as well.

Roger, we live in different states, your story is my story. Union was great as an apprentice, but worthless as a contractor.

"Become part of a brotherhood" sounds an awful lot like joining a gang, except if you respectfully leave the Hells' Angel, you don't starve due to them not allowing you to work...

Roger, I'm a union plumber up here in Minnesota. I'm a little disenfranchised. I've been plumbing for over 30 years. I still love doing it. I don't want to sound like I'm blowing my own horn, but I'm good at it. And when your good at something, it doesn't really seem like work. At least, that's what it seems to me. I worked my first 10 years as a non union apprentice and journeyman before joining the union. There was a huge boom in construction at the time and a huge shortage of all tradesmen at the time. So I was welcomed in with open arms and to how it was it the best decision I've ever made. And it seemed that way for quite a long time. Until the crash of 2008. As good a plumber I was, I started getting laid off. Most of the time the first to go and then one of the last to get hired back on. Reason being: Unions are a lot like private clubs. With members that have generations of history. Grandfathers, fathers, uncles, cousins, in laws... I didnt have any relation in the trade much less the local union. That, and an animosity for journeymen that got in without going through the 5 years of night school training the union makes the apprentices go through. They call these guys " back door journeymen" or "de-tailed rats" . I loved the whole brotherhood ideology but when the work gets scarce...... Its not what you know or how good you are, its who you know or who you are. I've seen guys that literally didn't know the difference between a coupling and a union keep their jobs while I got my check and sent down the road. Multiple times. I used to associate with union brothers/co- workers off the job and thought of some of them as friends. I don't associate with any of them any more and when I am employed I go to work and keep my mouth shut, do my job and go home. Besides, I'm becoming the old man of the crew as a lot of guys I knew are retired. These younger guys don't seem to know the trade as well as I think they should considering the extensive schooling and training they go through. You are right about the training. No service or residential training. I believe that every apprentice should do one year of their apprenticeship in residential. In commercial plumbing, the blue prints show you where and what size the pipes should be. Not on a new house. You rely on your knowledge and mechanical skills. (And your body too!) There are so many new journeymen in our local that wouldn't know where to start if they had to plumb a new house. I even know a couple of journeymen who had houses built and let the general contractor use his normal plumbing contractor do the work on them. It seems the union doesn't care as much about that part of the trade. Our local even has a split scale for commercial and residential with residential getting less pay. Ludicrous! I'm still a member in good standing and when not working my union job, I'm keeping busy doing my "side jobs" , which are becoming to a point that I may have to make it legit and get my Masters license and start my own shop. The insurance and retirement plan is making it tough decision. I'm 51 years old, and that too is a deciding factor. Whatever the case, I will still enjoy and take pride in the work I do. I love your videos and its great to see another guy who's just as enthusiastic about talking and informing others about the trade as I am. Not only that, but also getting new information and learning new things about plumbing. I once had a first year apprentice ask me how long I've been in the trade. When I told him he responded,"You must've seen it all, then." I told him I've seen a lot but I haven't seen it all. I told him every day can be a learning experience and that day you stop learning is the day you hang the pipe wrench back up on the hook. The point came across a couple of hours later when we had a small hole in a stool carrier fitting show up on a air test

my union 342 in alameda gave away the pension for service and repair plumbers in order to give the steam and oil field workers more money

I was in a union for 40 yrs., different trade, but I could say everything you just said, I feel your pain!

My union training focuses a lot on commercial/construction to the point that they won’t teach you how to run a string line and instead teach you to use the very expensive “Trimble” gps thing. No way I can afford a “Trimble” for side jobs.

I’m about to do the same next month and appear in front of the committee.

as an apprentice this is something ive wondered about... the service guys at the company i work for are almost all guys who organized in... and i havent heard of any service training at the hall...

You made the right call. When the Union straightens up, then return. In the meantime, use that 100k to invest back into your company.

If you got good plumbers you can pay them more than scale.

Great video, definitely appreciate hearing your opinions and experiences! My step-dad was a Union carpenter his whole life. He BLED Union. He had me watch the movie “Matewan” when I was maybe 10 or 12 years old to teach me the importance of unions to protect the working man. My older step-brother became a Union carpenter, and spent 15 years of his life in the Union before going off on his own before he passed away. I agree with all of the positive points you made about the Union, and I’ll add another one: the Union always made sure my dad had a job. When one project would end, they had another lined up, and all he had to do was show up. My biological father is in the automotive industry as a tool and die maker, and he has a lot of negative experiences with union members at car and truck plants. He told me horror stories of drugs used on site, drunk workers, sex between workers on site, and not hard to imagine terrible work ethos and ability. So, there’s two sides I guess. If the Union holds the members to high standards and an employer can go to them and say, “hey, these people aren’t cuttin’ it”, and the Union fixes the problem either through training or other means, I will always fully support unions. But, a few bad apples spoil the barrel. Thanks again for your video, I will definitely watch more of your videos.

I’m in local 43 in Chattanooga Tennessee and they do train residential and commercial. I’m a pipe fitter but I have a lot of friends that are in the plumbing program and own union company’s! But I have heard of a lot that don’t train in certain areas.

As a member of Steamfitters local 449, I spent 41 years in a related trade. The ONLY weakness with union plumbing/pipefitters would be the residential side especially the service end. This is a great trade with many benefits that you mentioned & very few downsides. My union dues were only 3% not much to pay for the training/working conditions/benefits that you receive. United we stand, divided we fall

You hit the nail on the head, I was in the Iron workers union (which is probably one of the more corrupt unions.) Being lazy is incentivized and everything is based on "seniority", so basically if you just hide out in a porta potty long enough, you will be running the jobsite, then you can hide out in your $60,000 air conditioned truck. I have always loved the idea of a union, but when put into practice, it is like socialism it just leads to rampant corruption. There is no incentive to be better and sometimes its actually the opposite, you are incentivized to be the laziest.

Nice work! I’ve been service plumber for 29 years still Liking it lol! Thanks for your show! Learning a lot from it ! Keep up the Good work someday we will see daylight take care!

I’m a proud member of Local 367 up here in Anchorage Alaska! My hall teaches service/HVAC class, it’s around 9-10 months long 2 4 hour long classes per week 5-9p and it’s a great thing! After watching your video I realize how lucky I am to have a local chapter that provides that opportunity to me free of charge

Paying sales commissions on residential service seems risky. Wouldn't that incentivise your workers to sell customers products they don't need?

This video was so helpful, I'm glad you made this!

You can operate like a union without being a union. I have a friend who works for a heavy duty construction company. They operate pretty much like a union shop but arent technically one.

Roger you are seriously the Professional when it comes to Plumbing. I learned some much from you. Thank you 🎉

Used to have an apprenticeship with an ironworkers union and my god it was horrible. I left after 6 months and before I left I found out that all the higher ups were about to retire and were letting the union decay on the way out. They barely trained us before sending us on job site it was basically learn or quit and it pissed every single contractor/journeyman/foreman off to no end.

I’ve been part of the union foe 5 years started off as a pre-apprentice at the age of 35 I was going though the apprenticeship program like everyone else paying my dues. After an injury my insurance kicked in but I wasn’t working...I couldn’t get my hours or work experience cause I couldn’t walk for some time and I was under tremendous pain. I couldn’t pay my dues cause I was burly getting enough from unemployment and eventually I was expelled for not paying my dues when I tried coming back they tried to make me pay reinitiating fees which I had no money so I left and started working non union I got a couple of years of that and I missed the brotherhood so I tried to come back once again they wanted to start me off right where I left off and I said that was crazy and I told them my experience they didn’t want to give me any credit and once I tried to get my journeyman card they black balled me so bad that they didn’t even want to vouch for the time I spend there or provide work history to have the necessary time to even qualify for my journeyman test...cold hearted.

About your retirement plan comments for an employee....my grandfather was a union plumber in San Francisco for several decades. His union “invested” on his behalf. Within the next 10 years, my grandfather realized that he didn’t have everything that was promised. He ended up working for my father in a different industry until his death. I am definitely not a fan of unions that did that to my family.

Boston local 12 has the training your talking abt, we also now have a residential division. But I do agree with your choice, with what you were dealing with. There is a lot of misconceptions out there abt the union, this video helped. So far I love being in it, it’s not perfect, but it’s great for me and my family. My local normally offers family activities throughout the year, obviously COVID has stopped it this year. But all in all Boston has been a great experience, especially the training.

Let's just say from a employer standpoint unions protect the worker who deserves to be fired I have witnessed this first hand

Plumbers local 68 in Houston tx, its great 👍 the stuff you talked about is very true about the unions

Been a Diesel mechanic for 22 years. My first shop was IAM. I was a helper making 60 percent of the journeyman mechanics. Paid the same insurance and union dues. That was not fair. I was eating ramen and my car barely ran. I was 25. At my shop. You had to be 44 and up to get summertime vacations. 55 and up for all overtime. 62 and up for the big holidays. I think I got overtime once. These D bags would bring their 5th wheels with a new Harley on the back. They would brag about all of the overtime they soaked up like a sponge. You won if you were older in a union. When I was hired. A lot of guys retired. I raised so much bell about the same 3 guys taking thanksgiving and Xmas. The union came down to the shop and demanded the top 3 guys to give up a holiday for young people with babies etc. They cried like babies. I was in that union 2 years and never again. My current shop. I make 3 dollars more then our sister union shop.

I went to go union a couple years back I was told I had too much experience. Really never heard of such a stupid thing.

UA LOCAL 75 MILWAUKEE and Seattle Local 32 , great on this end . 16 years of service. Pros and cons for everything thing Great video, pro union . Both unions had training programs multiple service classes, Both for residential and commercial contractors. Definitely a good video going to pass it on to my BA , as a reminder to the small Union contractors. Thanks Rob

I think the union is great for employees, just not my employees.👍

Local 5 is actually doing service classes in the apprenticeship to help out the companies who only needed service plumbers.

When I graduated high school I went to the ibew to try and start an apprenticeship. They had me sign a bunch of papers and take a test then they told me i'd have an interview in 4 months. I went to an independent shop and had my interview with the owner that day and I've been working there for 2 years now. The local I went to called me 8 months later telling me my interview date but I already had a job. I don't hate the union or anything but they wouldn't even give me a chance. I've heard the same story from other people.

My dude I love your accent, something about it is just very nice

If I don't get in a union I'll work til I die is how I look at it. I'm in school now for hvac and union is the plan

Not a plumber, but I do work for the school district. They had union reps come around and I asked about it. Everyone said the same thing: stay away, they’re just a cash grab. Apparently, they got no real power, they don’t do anything for you, and they’re expensive for what they actually “do.” I was told there’s one in Austin that is worth joining, but the one coming around (I forget the name) is worthless.

I am a former Union Plumber also. I was a member for 13 years and only worked 9-1/2 years because of the recession years. After 3 years without a single job dispatch I was forced to go non union to feed my family and the Union kept every dime of my pension. I had even tried putting my travel card at other union halls and they never dispatched me. Brotherhood my behind! Crooks!

You said it. Unions are for employees not employers. If you are planning on getting into plumbing, go union. If you never plan on starting a business, stay union.

Unions are a mixed bag. Some are more useful than others, and you always get good and bad. I think you summed up how they are very well. I tend to lean on the non-union side, but then I’ve also known some people who were let down (as employees) by big promises and absolutely no follow through.

I worked out of UA Local 228 in Yuba City, CA and Local 350 out of Sparks, NV. Went through the JATC for 1.5 years and only had 3 months of work. Only the local president and VP's kids had and steady work. Local 228 was primarily pipe welder travel local. Almost no work in our own area unless you were a journeyman welder/fitter coming in. Local 350 was primarily commercial/industrial pipefitting and plumbing. I saw 2 service guys at 350 and they were both traveling in from Arizona. Lots of great people in that local at the ground level. Leadership was so-so at best as far as I could tell. Got knocked off of a ladder and injured due to a shitty situation in a boiler room working at 350. The foreman, journeymen, and other apprentice all witnessed the situation and went to bat for me. But both union locals (my home and travel local) refused to accept my calls or respond to messages as I reached out for help with the workers comp and company safety investigation. I was still expected to pay dues while on disability. Once I recovered I left the union and moved over to non-union work. Been working steady for 4 years now with a blend of service, residential new and multi family construction, and commercial. I would go back into the union at a different local for the training and benefits if a union contractor tried to recruit me. But I don't plan to actively seek out any further union work.

Good video, straight to the point, no intro bs, no dilly dally. Keep it up

Union was always there to protect their revenue stream but could not be reached when a problem came up.

After starting out with a decade in the workforce relying on outperforming others for raises, I have been in a union for another decade.... I FAR prefer working without one. In the decade before this position, I worked for 3 separate companies and each of them gave me multiple merit raises for being more productive than my peers. with the most recent 10 years being EXCLUSIVELY tenure based raises, I feel no need to put more work in than the rest of my coworkers because i get absolutely zero for doing so. When doing a better job benefit me, it was my sole focus... now that it is not, all I have to do is not get fired. Unions are an antiquated systems for people who are unwilling to hustle to prove their worth for their employers.

I’m in Boston’s local 12 and we just opened our own residential service wing and those apprentices train with us commercial apprentices in the same training center! I’m so sorry you had a bad experience!! My local is super awesome for me ( i don’t want to open my own company) so I’m looking at it like you said as an employee! Either way I’m glad i watched this video!

My dad has owned his business for 26 years and had the EXACT same problems. This video is like hearing him talk, and they refuse to train for residential service. The last straw was that they wouldn't let me apprentice under him, so he got out and I'm in my second year now. All the run-around was so frustrating.

Hey Roger, thanks for the video. I’m looking into the trade, juggling wether I should do Union or not. After seeing this and reading the comments of the absolute vile practices of the Unions, I get a better and clearer picture. My Grandpa was one of the people fighting for the union in the 50’s (for trucking) and I’m sure he would be pissed off of what it’s turned into. Appreciate the video again and wish me luck on the plumbing trail!

why is insurance tied to your employment?!

It’s unbelievable, but I have the exact same story, and my views are the same. It’s great if you only want to do one facet of the trade as easy as possible for the rest of your working career, but terrible for a residential/light commercial contractor. I’ve had the same experience. I own an hvac/r company and have been in business for 16 years. I have to get away now. They are not a fit for residential work. I couldn’t get trained guys, I had to do all the training, and it killed growth, and they are doing the same to me now as far as dishonesty goes. I’m going that situation now, it’s gonna be difficult. Thank you for your honesty

Residential customers cannot afford a union plumber. I have been union and non-union for 30 years. Big difference in pay for Residential plumbing services.

My dad ran an electrical shop for many years, the union came in, wanted him to go union, he put it to a vote to his employees, they said no, mostly because for his best electricians it would have meant a pay cut. The next time he hired an employee the Union sued for not hiring union labor, this turned into a 10 year court battle. Subsequently I have refused to have anything to do with Unions in my lifetime.

I was a union worker for 10-ish years but not as a plumber. The benefits are phenomenal. But because there were great benefits, promotions were few and far between. I had to move to a non-union store to get promoted. Since then, I've become more antagonistic about unions. Unions are fine in places where the workers are a dime a dozen and the employer is large with deep pockets. But unions are terrible for small businesses and positions where a lot of schooling, experience, and specialization is required.

Where are you, that your local doesn't train service

Back in 1991 was working at a steel company. Soon after I started I was told that the company had voted to go UNION SHOP. Sure enuf a week later the company shut down for the weekend. Came back to work on Monday and they had divided the work zones in each sector and you was assigned to work in that one zone. Before if you were needed to catch up on another order, you did it. Well after the union you weren't able to go help the person next to you doing the same job as yours. Since I was anti union I was released from the job. I told them that this company would be closed by the years end. Eight months later they closed the company and moved it to Mexico!

The Union sucks if your the boss

How close is this to a pyramid scheme? I know that you actually get benefits but is it benefits from a third party? Like insurance, that's third party.

Here in Sweden the unions used to be great for getting worker's rights and protection established, But that was many decades ago, and since then all they do is collect a monthly fee. For most of us here they have become a joke of what they once were and stood for, These days they actively work for the interest of the company executive as opposed to the little guy working on the floor. (Our current prime-minister is a former union-leader, and he is generally considered by the working-class as the worst prime-minister in modern day, because he forgot where he came from, and he knowns nothing -but boy does he like to talk) One of our jokes is: "Am i in the union? -Sure am!, what do they do for me? well...they sound happy over the phone when i agree to pay them"

As a union pipefitter apprentice, I find it very hard to believe that if I went non union I would be able to find a contractor that would give me: free training and continuing education, free health insurance, a retirement plan that includes a pension and an annuity fund, a guarantee that the contractor will buy all the tools and materials I need, and a guaranteed $3 an hour pay raise every year.

If I had 25 kids I think I would go insane I can’t even deal with my cousins

Thanks for the video! Sounds like the problem is Right to Work. The unions have refocused now that we're competing against wage-slave labor, abandoning residential work for some reason in electricity and carpentry too, and good men like you are suffering for it. I wish I knew why we don't nut up and get back into residential work. Maybe the housing market cares more about short term profits than long term quality, who knows. I've been with the Millwrights union for 3 years. I love it, but I'm thinking of switching to plumbing. I'm not the strongest man. I get the job done, but my shoulders have been popping every day since I was 18. I'm 30 now, and I don't think my body can handle another 10 years of 84-hour weeks. And I'd like to get out of the refineries. Sounds like I'd still do long hours and travelling with the Plumbers, or with union anything, at least in Texas.

Incentives have a history of making ppl less safe and cutting corners. Which is why it's so discouraged.

Unions don’t do well in residential for the reason you stated, they don’t do service. The other thing they don’t teach is residential work. Our family shop went union after being ‘salted’. We found out the guy doing it, let him talk in a shop meeting and thought that could work, the benefits, pension, getting the techs better educated. Took about 3 months to figure out the business wasn’t benefitting, took the Union 8 months to figure out they couldn’t do what they promised and a year to separate amicably. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

lol in a few days when we go looking for roger we might find jimmy ???? the maf.. i mean union never forgets👀😱🤷‍♀️

I absolutely hate unions. They had their place one point in time, but now the unions are in it for themselves. I had a friend that was forced to go on strike because the union was fighting to get pay increases for the employees. They did, it worked, but right afterward, the union increased the dues. So the union was only fighting to get itself more money. I have been on job sites with union electricians and have had to wait an hour because they were required per the union to run all low volt. This was twenty years ago when electricians didn't know a thing about low volt at all. It was only ten feet, but they were on their required break, so it cost me an hour of my time, and if I just did the work, I would have been fined. They are nothing but a crooked organization that needs to go away.

Great video.Thx you... . My feelings and experience are very similar to yours.. Was fucked around with and got sick of the politics..14 good years with local .. Been in business for myself now for 10 years .. I do miss the work and the guys .. And learned a ton.. Not many get to c the industrial side of plumbing.. I dont reget joining and i dont regret leaveing.. Win win .

Out of L.u 370 Michigan , I’m mostly a welder but have done it all.. set toilets to braze refrigeration, an even tig weld stainless... I love the union.. but I hear your frustration with one being affiliated with the hall, and also the fact they didn’t have service training is