Replyright to work state I suppose, you should have UA locals there.Originally Posted by priorhvac
Professional Member
Wow. Kinda sucks down here in Florida... its hard to even approach 20 an hour.
Professional Member*
right to work state I suppose, you should have UA locals there.
Professional Member
$18/hr rarely get OT Double time if you get called from home. I'm a 5th year residential tech in southern MN. NATE Certified, EPA certified.
Professional Member*
Don't move to Missouri, right to work equals low pay. Low pay makes jack a dull boy.
Professional Member
Do you mean working non-Union in an R-T-W state equals low wages?
Professional Member*
Yes I fogot about you lucky union guys. I would kill for a union job.
Professional Member*
do something about it.
Professional Member
I think my package is twenty seven and change but that's shop.
Field is about thirty and change.
Professional Member
Hussmann is headquartered in STL. They should have a Hussmann Services branch there. I'm not sure it would be a Union location though.
Professional Member
Not exactly, well, at least not here. Residential, definitely. Commercial, depends on the company, and how good you are. It's more advantageous for me to be non-union, at least at the moment. May not be the case for everyone.
Chase
Professional Member
Do non-Union chiller service shops pay just under $50/Hr in Boston?
Professional Member
I don't work in Boston. I'm pretty sure the only chiller/commercial shops inside 495 are union. I don't know. I'm out west, it's a bit more competitive, and changing all the time, we have a shortage of journeymen out here.
I'm not anti or pro union. I haven't had an offer good enough yet to actually leave, from anywhere. I believe a tech should be paid by what they're worth, bring to the table, and how much money they make the shop/company. I don't think all techs are equal, or should be paid equally. Though, I will confess, I just recently learned that isn't exactly case. I have a couple of guys that keep telling to go down to the hall and talk to them... So.. I may at some point. I don't know.
Chase
Professional Member
Guys can bring a whole realm to the table here, $300K billed out. The most they'll get is a pat on the back.
Professional Member
I agree with you and let me add that the union contract only mandates the minimum wage an apprentice or journeyman must be paid, must of us make more than the union scale.
Professional Member
The biggest secret in a non-Union shop is how much everybody makes.
Professional Member*
Wow! That is so true! And who does that benefit? Certainly not the guys working there keeping their secrets...
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Regular Guest
Depends...I get $18.56/hr. Will be a second year apprentice in May and will be bumped to $22.
Professional Member
The cost of living tends to be higher in Union areas so it is a wash.
Professional Member
I have to disagree, not if you look at it long term, pension benefits and annuity funds have to count. Also look at fixed costs, a new Tahoe isn't going to be cheaper in
Tennessee than New Jersey. Cars, higher education, building material, fuel, or appliance cost will be similar.
I don't know what your lifestyle is, but most of my contemporaries with 25 years or more as union techs seem comfortable, and have prospects for a great
retirement lifestyle. Do your colleagues own homes with decent equity? Were their wives able to stay home with school age children? Are they able to help with kids
college costs? Can you expect a 35k yearly pension? A 500k annuity account with your name on it? I hope our situations are similar, we all work too hard and spend too
much time away from home to give ourselves away.
Professional Member
Not true where I work I can tell you what any tech makes and most make at or over union. All tho union pay is not that great here I would say 85% or 90% of the union techs make B scale at under 23 a hour bring home. A scale is under 31 bring home a hour.
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