NON-Union outfits

[topgroove]

how do you know if the line crew got called away on a trouble call or broken pole?

[Boomer gone soft]

I've worked all over this country for contractors....I have seen the "training" and "conditions" of non-union contractors. The fact is there are very good linemen on both sides, but taken as a whole there is no comparison --Union is where it is at. There are, granted, slackers; they are everywhere. There is no substitute for union training, union scale, and having a brother at your back.

That having been said, there is also something to be said for being home every night. I am still union (and will be 'till I die), but I now work for a utility. I am a service rep for Alliant Energy in Minnesota. There are linemen with a big S on their chest here also....(there are also slackers). The pittance I pay in dues is given back to me multiplied over and over again---not just in wages. In the knowledge I am the best-trained, I work in the best conditions, and when I think I have been wronged I have a strong voice to see that it is set right. I love my union because I love my family. There is no reason to work for less than what I am worth.....I AM A JOURNEYMAN LINEMAN. Too many good men have sacrificed too much for me to EVER forget that.

[AEE/linehand]

Amen.......

[Stinger]

Well said Boomer.

[Boomer gone soft]

Alliant is Union....

I just don't boom around anymore. Most utilities, especially around here, are union....especially investor owned.


Like most utility union members Alliant has mostly BA members....I am keeping my A ticket.

I didn't mean to complicate my post for you.

[WCLR]

IMO-Stay away from Sumter Utilities (owned by Quanta), MasTec (they seem to be going away from utility work here in the South), Pike, and Davis H. Elliott. All have bad track records around my area and OSHA's site is full of incident reports from those companies. I'm sure there are plenty out West too.

Try to get on with PG&E if you can, they are a great company to work for. I have a great friend that is a Transmission Foreman and has been there forever. Makes awesome money. To get on with companies like that will be hard, but worth it in the long run. Some IOU's here wont even hire you if you have worked non-union before.