| But, then again, we have member who did not met the qualifications, and | went back to school to aquire them. The result, they were accepted into | the union. Others, who did not make the first cut, went back the next | year, or the year after (we only take so many apprentices a year), some | it took five years. I guess if you want it bad enough, you work toward | achieving it.
But how many advanced do you take per year?
What if there is a factory that is currently operating non-union and has many non-union electricians on staff with a wide range of experience levels and the employees of the company (electricans and others) are wanting to become unionized? Normally a union would be out there to help them out. So your branch of IBEW is approached to unionize the shop. Do you take in all the electricians that are working there?
BTW, I'm on the union support side. But I do happen to think that the certification/qualification/licensing processes for any trades workers should be done separate from the union (and separate from the employer, too). The union should be there for the support it provides for anyone at any level, from green beginner to the most advanced, regardless. It should even be open to electrical engineers, who in some companies need a union to keep the company from screwing them, too.
| Do you give up on enployment for the rest of your life because you | didn't get the job you applied for?
Most people don't want to. But if not being able to get in means you have to find some other job right now, it might end up being that you can't ever get in due to the vicious circle thing. If you have to get in to get work, and you have to get work to get experience, and you have to be in to get work, well, hopefully, you can see where that leads.
| So DANA. please enlighten me as to your expertise as to why the IBEW is | such a bad organization that you can claim that a person you know | nothing about "ripped off the customer, and returned marginal at best | performance"
I have seen some problems with unions. But I find it is the exception rather than the rule. In most cases it is the result of very problematic companies and the overly detailed agreements that come about, making for too many rules for everyone to follow. I know of a case where in New York at certain convention areas, they require an electrician just to plug anything into an electric outlet. Electricians are needed to wire up the outlets. But they all walked out one time about 15 years ago when one of the show exhibitors plugged in his own computer (because he had to unplug it to reset it, and needed to plug it right back in, and an electrician happened to see him do it). It's things like that which do give unions a bad name. I suspect the mafia was highly involved; it is New York, afterall.
| Or, can you provide the OP with a better metod of converting his "UK | expierance to a respectable US One" that he can use to feed his family | or keep a roof over their head.
Obviously he needs to learn the different practices of the US. Normally there should be some means for an electrician that moves from one part of the US to another to quickly get licensed and go to work, whether that is as a private one-man business, or hired out through a contractor, or as a staff electrician at some company, union or non-union. It won't be as easy for someone with UK experience to do that, and I think some classes or training is in order, as well as a short apprenticeship to verify he is on track with the different practices here. But it should not be on a fixed time schedule. He should be able to come up to speed for most things faster than teh average person who has zero prior experience. To the extent the union feels they need to bring in more people, they should be interested in helping him get going, especially considering that would be less effort than the real beginner.
I just don't want to see any 30 amp ring circuits showing up in NY :-)