So I'm posting my story on why I went (private trade union / not government funded )union in my field and the difference in work environment it made in hopes to help anyone who's been back and forth about joining one. And I'd love to answer questions.
So when I was 19 idecided to get my shit together after basicly being homeless and on drug I got a job at taco bell, got my license and a car for 700 bucks filed financial aid went to welding school, started at what supposed to be my first welding job for a semi truck repair buisness in the middle of school. Start there they wouldn't give me a weld test or anything, instead they give me the most labor intensive and hard to do tickets of putting on rub rails they give us a 5 dollar little safety medallion we're supposed to keep on us at all times my goes missing out of my tool box I never move it from the drawer it's in. The company then docks 50 dollars out of my paycheck the company then requires me to buy 2grand of tools ( through a tool truck on credit) that I ended up never using any besides a air drill and everyday. I confided with another employee I was thinking about applying to a new job since I wasn't doing any welding and wasn't being taught anything of promises, next day boss calls me into his office and says I heard you're looking for a new job, I replied and told him I wasn't I'm just not happy with what I was told was going to be my duties and what actually is. The boss then told if I wanted to do what we originally said that I'll have to work my way up and that there people who've been here for 15 years now and are making our top pay at 28 dollars an hour (they give you a dollar raise after a review each year depending on how fast you get work orders done compared to the time they are supposed to take I was making $14 at a time amazon hired for same amount) he told I have to make a decision now I can grab my tools and leave or go back to work and if this comes up again I will be fired, I instantly packed all my tools into my car and leave.
My second job I start off at 15 doing stick/mig/tig at a fab shop and running a mobile welding truck that's unbeknownst to me under water it's 2 other people there the owner and an older guy who can't go anywhere else due to losing his license because of his disability. Things are going great besides the fact that I can't get 40 hours a week there only working between 20 to 30 a week and getting paid every two weeks , I survive but I struggle , but I had plenty of time to do what a 20 year old who just finished welding school wants to do, drink and hang out and enjoy life being somewhat stable for the first time drink and hang out with friends every day
Well time goes on and drugs start appearing at the shop boss and other employee are doing cocaine everyday I start doing it with them here and there because why not I'm making what I thought was alot of money well months down the line boss tell he can't pay me this week even though been working the whole time , I go well alright I guess this goes on for 3 more weeks even though he's doing cocaine everyday, I get pissed and tell him I won't come in again till he pays me , next morning he sends me a Facebook messaged all cooked out telling me how I need to learn responsibility and how I need this job and I fucked up not coming in and to not bother coming in tommorow. I just respond with him where's my money, he then tells me it'll be direct deposited the next buisness day. I quit and start applying to new jobs going back and forth on what I want to do if I want to go union or not been wondering about it for a while now. But everyone I've ever met at shops talk shit about it.
My next job is at a mig aluminum shop they hired me on at 15 doing same easy mindless brain dead stuff everyday which is different from my last job where I'd repair stuff on the spot , get stagnant real fast starts becoming like the definition of a dead end job, I start questioning whether I screwed my self choosing the field I go into, people at this shop make rape jokes all day say the n word , I'm a very against all these thing , this place destroys me inside dealing with the people I work with I begin to hate them. I get depressed making 500 a week after taxes working 40 , not struggling but I'm not thriving just treading water and question if welding school was a scam for 15 grand. I decide its time for change and apply to ironworkers union and get in 8 months later
I start off as a second year apprentice due to welding school and and past work experience with the mobile welding shop making 18.26 , it's been 3 years now and I'll be “topping out ” making journeyman scale (31 a hr and 16 bucks a hr in benefits) in a couple of months. My first job made me question everything if I was made out to do it or not tough work. But the people I work with are great I go from making 500 week to 900 after over time I got more certs of wednesday and Saturdays which equal out to more pay and have a 40 hour school week every 2 months I make friends and connections with my foreman to the point I get called to go to their job if I'm laid off now I've been laid off for 2months straight during covid but the connection I made keep later down the line after that keep me working fairly regularly that help me keep afloat I feel the absolute brother hood that was missing from every other job now there's been some not so great people I met but overall I like most of the people I work with and have a good time at work we all look out for each other questioning my life choices happen less and less with each job I go to. Got a couple friends in but they don't share the same experience as me which I'm sad to hear but it's not for everyone and I get that it doesn't fit what they want to do with their life. I've had weeks where I made 300 bucks and weeks I've made 2000 bucks I don't feel underpaid , used or abused, I don't work in the rain, I don't get hassled for calling off when sick. And overall my life has shifted for the better just bought my first house and have a car thats a 2017 being my last car was a 1995 scrap heap my house might only be worth 100k but it's somewhere I never saw my self at 24 when I was 19 starting this journey especially any of the previous places I was working. I wrote this give my story on anybody going back and forth on if they should join a union or not and will be happy to answer any question or scares someone might have that I also mightve had , I wish I had more information on this and the difference