I'll start off by saying I'm a non union carpenter in Wisconsin. Our wages are not “set in stone” like the union guys unless you're an apprentice. We have a wage map that is set by the Bureau of Apprentice Standards. Apprentices have a rate that is a set percentage of what a “skilled person” in the trade should make. This is commonly referred to as “journeyman wage” eventhough once youre through your apprenticeship theres nothing forcing your employer to pay you that wage. The last wage map was set in 2020. Typically they had updated the map every year or two. Covid kind of screwed up the process so we went all the way through 2020, 2021, 2022, and almost the first 3 months of 2023 with no update. Finally a new updated map comes through and you know what they suggested for a pay rate in my area? A whopping $3/hr change. The main issue is this was a $3/hr pay CUT. These people sat down, compiled thier data from a super competitive and understaffed market of trade workers, looked at record inflation data, and then decided that the correct number was $3/hr lower than what was posted years ago. Thankfully the organization I work with immediately cleared the air that they weren't responsible for this slap in the balls and it's all the states fault, which it is. I'm not sure what the current union wage rate is for my area but I hope like hell they got a raise because all I hear is “there's not enough people in our trade” like no shit you people thought a pay cut was a good idea because there's no way you didn't mess up any part of your data collection.