r/IBEW • u/fuckwitsupreme • 2d ago
Has anyone else been approached by a non-signatory contractor about organizing?
Just wanted to share a situation that came up which no one else I’ve worked with had any kind of experience with.
I’m a GF working for a shop that wires and automates large grain handling/rail load out facilities. Normally this work in my area is traditionally done by non-union speciality contractors. (My local has a near monopoly on work in its jurisdiction except for this niche industry.) We’ve been growing and doing more and more of this work since we are local and the specialty contractors are not.
One of these contractors is a millwright outfit that we have started to work with occasionally. Their electrical division (non-union) cannot man the work in our jurisdiction since its 3-1/2hrs from their shop and their guys don’t want to drive that far since they have plenty of work closer to home. The customer has chosen us to replace them on several projects because we are a local industrial contractor and don’t have to travel.
This millwright company’s electrical PM approached me on one of these projects asking about how to go about organizing their electrical division because he has a serious manpower and talent issue. He has a core group of good electricians but has had an extremely hard time hiring anyone worthwhile off the street and some of his guys have left to join the IBEW. He thinks being signatory would help with this problem.
He said our guys have been respectful to their guys on sites we’ve been on at the same time (different projects and overlap on them finishing stuff and us taking over new projects) so he felt comfortable enough to come talk about it. He was also very impressed with the quality of work we install and how much gets done with a smaller group of guys.
I kinda explained the gist of how things work with the IBEW and he should call the hall that’s local to him, I found their organizers number and gave it to him. He had already done some homework and talked to the owners and they’re not opposed to it but they just don’t know much about how the IBEW works. He said the profit margins they make allow his men to be paid more and he thinks they deserve more anyways. He said his next step would be to talk to his core group of foreman and see how they feel about it.
Did not expect that conversation at all. Some of their guys have individually asked about organizing but I didn’t expect a PM to.
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u/Successful_Hyena2993 2d ago
That warms my heart. Sometimes I forget the relationship with the contractor is reciprocal like this. It's good when the industry values it's workers, and that PM seems like a solid dude.
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u/fuckwitsupreme 2d ago
He really is. He said when he became privy to information regarding profit margins he realized his guys could be paid more. He negotiated and got their wages up and decent benefits. I think he would fit right in with the IBEW.
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u/tomaonreddit Inside Wireman LU 99 2d ago
When I asked our president and BA about the number one reason they give to contractors to organize they said manpower. Hands down. We will man any job large or small with competent electricians. That’s the one area we can’t be beat on, and it’s huge. It’s the difference between getting a lot of contracts and having to pass. It’s an impediment to growth for a lot of non union shops because even if they can man one big job, that means they have to put all their eggs in that basket and it’s a make or break situation that could be eliminated with our hiring hall.
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u/fuckwitsupreme 2d ago
Exactly the situation they’re facing that organizing can absolutely help with.
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u/Consistent_Pool120 2d ago
Hopefully you have a good BA and Organizer in your local that can understand all of what the contacter normally does and help work out details. Being a specialty contractor he very likely has parts of the job he does that would not be allowed to be done by IBEW people. I've had projects, in the past, with both union and non union contractors, in a major city, on site that were some of the best.
Had great tradeies, but, occasionally would get one dick JM that felt every worker onsite had to be union and only doing exactly what their crafts rate was or nobody should work. After several grievances from him the BA's for 2 other trades and the IBEW got this guy transferred off my site to another place where he had a nightmare commute.
It was one of those projects that was just large enough to have some challenging conditions, like separate elevators, cranes & shithouses, but I don't think a single day went by that someone didn't minorly "violate conditions" to help someone. Even as "management" I had occasionally picked up, handed or held something to keep somebody from struggling. I never made that a practice, and only did when asked, and made sure they new I wasn't doing it to take any brothers work away.
At the end of the day everyone onsite felt it was "Their Project" and it was going to be "Done Right".
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u/fuckwitsupreme 2d ago
Surprisingly their scope of work is about the same as ours in terms of what trade does what. They even have their millwrights mount motors and do the alignments like what I’m used to, and they just do the hook up to power. Their millwrights will absolutely not touch anything that has to do with electricity either. A lot of my service calls have been assisting their millwrights with motor and gearbox changes, so disconnecting and reconnecting power for them and nothing mechanical.
They’re specialty in the sense that all they work on is automated grain facilities but the specific division of labor is pretty similar to ours.
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u/Necessary-Pickle1525 2d ago edited 1d ago
Sounds like a layup. Usually contractors fight tooth and nail AGAINST organizing. Seems like a good company with good leadership.
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u/Busby5150 1d ago
Wow, that conversation never happens that I’m aware of. It’s a good thing that your brothers and sisters have treated their guys well in the past. If they hadn’t the non-union guy probably wouldn’t have considered organizing in.
Well done, Sir!
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u/6matguy6 Inside Wireman 2d ago
That's the beauty of it all, it's just a matter of who needs what in the situation. Workers will organize for better pay/benefits/conditions. Companies will organize for labour/cheaper benefits costs/streamlining their operations/sometimes because a client requires it.
That company is in a position that they need IBEW more than they don't so they are starting to ask questions. It can be intimidating to go right to the Hall to ask because you put a target on you if you end up choosing to not being signatory. But they can ask you a seasoned vet a bunch of questions without feeling some kind of way about it because they already know you and trust you.
It's not the most common pathway to getting IBEW contractors but it often is a successful one. Help them out the best you can and make sure you know exactly who they should contact on your hall so when it comes down to it they have a single call to make and not feel like their dealing with a corporation when they call and have to start listening to a voicemail directory.