How do union halls work? Are unions generally used more for construction projects?
Curious how union halls work, and which companies typically utilize union employees. My entire career has been general industry and I've never worked for a company that works closely with union halls. My general understanding is that construction companies will look to union halls to fill positions for projects they're working. Anyone have any history working with union halls? Just looking to learn a little more about the process.
Comments (6)
There are unions in nearly every industry. When I was a career firefighter, I was a member of the local 3792 IAFF union. Many electrical workers are a member of their local IBEW chapter. Automotive manufacturers, along with many other manufacturers, are typically all in unions. Believe it or not, unions are pretty common across the US as a whole.
We work closely with our local unions. I'd say about half of our field crew is union. Some customers have a requirement that a certain percentage of employee on that job need to be from the electrical union. We do alot of substation construction work.
Also if we need to fill a position we can call them and will have someone within a day. Some of our union guys have been with us for many years, some we term when the project is over. We also get union apprentices that usually up to a year.
When someone in the union doesn't have a job they "go on the books". And when a company needs them they go there.
They have certain terms we have to meet. They get double time if they have to work in weather, we have to pay them for a minimum of 2 hours. So if they only work an hour we still have to pay two. Stuff like that we have to work with.
One of the pluses with working with a union to supply you people is that they are supposed to be trained, certified, and licensed (such as electricians.) The union hall does a lot of task training so when you call for an individual usually they are familiar with their job tasks so training these individuals can go a lot faster.