Is Being A Union Carpenter Worth It
Good career start for those who wish to work simply as a carpenter or foreman or work as staff for the union.
Is being a union carpenter worth it. Being a Union Contractor I can say that I regret being Union. The Carpenters had fought with the Wood Workers union chartered by the AFL for decades claiming that any workers who planed wood products that were subsequently used in construction such as doors sashes mouldings and the like were performing carpenters work and must be brought within its union. Union workers are always the top paid construction workers when directly compared with their non-union counterparts.
1 The Pros Good of Being a Construction Worker. While the Carpenters had never made similar claims on work performed by sawmill workers much less tried to organize them the union. Union jobs in particular are known to provide excellent benefits.
The Union abuses it contractors making it difficult to stay in business. So its worth looking into organizations such as the United Brotherhood of Carpenters UBC. Being in business for myself and creating jobs for people is a plus however the union beats up on the Employer and makes it exhausting.
Depending on your area work goes in waves with booms of 5 to 10 years then slow work for up to 5 years. Well first of all it is nothing like a dying art there is so much to do in this field there are a lot of people building using timber frame nowadays the carpenter is the one who is first on the site to handover all the other trades come and go for me with carpentry you have a way of doing things that is taught to you like hanging doors cutting roofs but there is so much stuff that you have to invent a. As of 2013 the average annual wage for American carpenters was 44980 according to the US.
Carpentry is an excellent career choice and a very self-rewarding job. The carpenters union in Utah isnt as great compared to the one back in Hawaii where Im originally from but it does help pay the bills. Especially if youre going to work your way up.
If you are considering working in a union building trade ask about the pension and definitely avoid the carpenters all they care about as a union is getting your money. This is especially true if you join a local union and graduate from their apprenticeship program. Lots of carpenters dont know what the fuck theyre doing his exact words including the finger quotations.
