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View Full Version : Okay, Have a question.



creeper
06-10-2008, 08:44 PM
Alright first I'd like to say that I'm not doing it just for the money, I love my job, I love what I do. As a matter of a fact at this point I really can't see myself doing anything else. I love line work. Now on to my question. Background: I am a 3rd year apprentice, I would like to say that I am damn good. For the most part it is ready and waiting before my lineman/senior lineman needs it. I am doing pretty good at learning the ropes. About 70% of the time my senior lineman just sits in the bucket and watches me( 2 man bucket, company policy to have him in the bucket) while I do all the work. Almost never do I need a correction.loking around on the internet and talking to other linemen I am getting the feeling that me and all the rest of the people in my company are getting shitted on. What is the average pay rate people see, I'm at roughtly 14 an hour, senior linemen who have been with the company for 18 yrs. are getting like 21 an hour. Would you say this is a dead end job? I mean in fifteen years I don't want to be struggling to make ends meet like all the older guys here. I hate to leave but damn, what the hellis up with the money? By the way we are in south georgia, the capital of low pay, but with the way our housing and everything else is going up i don't know how much more of this I can stand. Managment thinks that a .40 cent raise is a damn good raise, but the convient thing is that each year they give the raise to coincide with insurance increases. Since I have been there my actual bring home hasnt changed. Sorry for this long ass post but its really frustrating me and I need some answers from the rest of the people who do this job. So what do you thinnk?

swetngblts
06-10-2008, 11:29 PM
Well, i'm not in the trade yet but i can tell you what i'd do. I'd finish out the apprenticeship, GTFO and move on to another company.

Guys and Gals coming straight out of line school are getting paid more than what you're making in your neck of the woods.

There is a bigger picture though.

grizzlybuck
06-11-2008, 10:28 AM
Creeper, I hate to agree that leaving your current company after you get your card may be the answer, but that is the truth. A couple years back our Union officers complained to the Company that their pay rate for lineman was below the National average, they were told that there must not be much of a problem because they were not losing very many linemen to better paying companies, so the linemen must be happy/satisfied with their pay.

The "Lineman shortage" may indeed eventually help our financial bottom line but it may take some prompting by more lineman willing to pick up and move to greener pastures.