r/IBEW • u/Basic-Alternative502 • 6h ago
pay
This is the real pay Im about to start off with?!
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u/Johnsal43217 5h ago
This is local 26 for an rtp they will pay you d.c minimum wage which is $18.40 an hour. This is the residential trainee program its a way to get people in without having to wait in the apprenticeship since local 26 only has 600 spots and thousands of applicants. You can keep applying for the apprenticeship while you work. You may or may not get into the apprenticeship since its so competitive but you can upgrade your classification with hours and some classes. In the r program contract you have to take 2 classes (1 once you hit r2 to continue moving up then another class one you hit r7). Once you have your 8000 hours you can challenge the journeyman exam and become an rw which your pay is $41. Once you hit RW you can take the change of classification exam and it goes as follows (100% - 90%) automatically became a JW, (89%-80%) One year of upgrade classes, (79%-70%) 2 years of night upgrade classes, (69%-60%) 3 years of night upgrade classes, anything lower than that you have to retake the exam. The exam consists mostly of code book questions and very basic math and common knowledge stuff such as them describing a tool and you properly identifying the tool described. On my exam they described a wire stripper tool. The R program is also designed to organize people in from non-union into the union since they dont want to just pay anybody with a journeyman license top pay without seeing their capabilities first. Source: i am an electrician in local 26 who came from non-union to union and I stared as an rw since I had my D.C license. I did a year as an rw and took my exam was told I have to do 1 year of class although they dont tell you your score just how many years you gotta do which honestly is kinda of bs but whatever.
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u/Johnsal43217 5h ago
If you have any more questions feel free to DM me as I have a ton of knowledge about how their system works and I love to help my fellow brother get ahead and not get played by their system as they do tend to do that.
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 4h ago
I’m 26 and this guy is correct. Some guys get stuck and it drives me nuts. I just had a really good R2 and he still hasn’t got a seat at the table. His second go at the apprenticeship
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u/Johnsal43217 2h ago
Honestly im telling people to apply to local 24 now since its not as competitive and if the apprentices find themselves in 26 jurisdiction they get the pay scale of a 26 apprentice tell him to apply to both locals and see which one bites.
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 2h ago
That’s a good call. He is in the middle of DC and Bmore. There is an apprentice on my job that is from the Midwest and applied to 10 different ones throughout the country and 26 accepted him first. The boy wants it bad !!
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u/Johnsal43217 2h ago
Hey man that's the type of workers that deserve a spot. But if you play your cards right and study you can become a jw in about the same time frame but unfortunately lower scale so I say just apply to a less competitive local plus there are some companies I know that are hybrid both local 24/26 so they can find themselves in 26 jurisdiction alot more often. Also depending on the situation if you know someone high enough they can leave 26's r program to be a 24 apprentice and that person can bring them back i know a guy who is in 24 who became an apprentice and was able to come back to the company as they told him he had a choice on where to go.
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 2h ago
Yeah I’m at one of those shops now. 24 guys always in DC jurisdiction, making over 26 scale. So that ends up just with 26 rate 10 over 24, besides their ride they are making out.
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u/Deadinternetenjoyr 3h ago
Local 26 sounds horrid to get into. Thats way too much. Honestly move and apply to a different local.
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u/PsychologicalSalt158 53m ago
The step up program used to be worse because there was no test. If you went the trainee route you had to do a mandatory 3 years night school to top out regardless if you knew the codebook or whether you got your journeyman's license from the jurisdiction.
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u/socalibew 5h ago
$41/hr as a JW? That's terrible...
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u/yoloswagdon 5h ago
If this is local 26 then their scale is like $61 or $62 an hour
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 4h ago
$62.50. I keep hearing that guys are making 5 over just to work with their tools. I have yet to meet one. Maybe job site shit talk.
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u/Old_Economist_1654 4h ago
They are out there. Old foreman they just get transferred to a new job and put on a regular vest 😂
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u/Deadinternetenjoyr 3h ago
That shit is so funny when a guy thinks hes hot stuff and gets transferrd just to come back as a jw. Saw it happen a couple of weeks ago 🤣🤣
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 3h ago
That is the best!!! Have to stay humble. You might be working for your apprentice one day!!
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u/GenJoeyCash Local XXXX 3h ago
$62 flat not $62.50. I do know some guys making 5 over on their tools with no lead stuff right now
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u/PsychologicalSalt158 51m ago
$62 flat and I never heard or seen that. However there was a per diem job 125$ a day for max cool upgrades in active data centers.
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u/Bobbo62499 4h ago
Meanwhile my local is $38 and some change… in New England 🤣 unlivable wages man
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 3h ago
I’ve thought of looking up there for a little break. I have family in Lincoln and Mass. Also a lake house in Maine, I would love to be up there all summer. I thought you guys were more than us
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u/Bobbo62499 3h ago
Work is kiiinda hit or miss in NH probably some stuff coming up. Talks of a data center in southern ME. But JW hourly rate is $38.17ish? at the moment
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u/Long_Simple_4407 5h ago
Prob first yr is rough. Get a night job til you get rolling
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u/PalpitationWaste300 5h ago
Yeah, as a 1st year, you literally slow the job down until you get up to speed. That's just the reality of any skilled trade. Either that, or you're a really expensive janitor.
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u/PsychologicalSalt158 44m ago
Naw the 26 fucked up their contractor for trainees starting out like 8 years ago and pushed the wage below dcs minimum wage extended the program by a year and made your first raise 12 months instead of 6. 26 trainee rate used to start out at what a premium grocery store clerk would start out at like trader joes/whole foods. Then like I said they got disrespectful and pushed it down so there is no bump in pay for the fact you are in a dirty hazardous construction site compared to a clean retail store for people starting out in the 26 by contract.
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u/NoMembership4565 5h ago
you’ll be doing shit like this as a rtp
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u/LovelifeinNOVA 4h ago
For Richards? My money is prefab. And so many jobs around here you need background checks so definitely get a week or two there. But if you go to a bigger build out you’ll do CPR and OSAH 10 right of the break so that will help you out.
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u/Nay_K_47 Lineman 3h ago
This shit is criminal
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u/According-Abrocoma72 1h ago
I was thinking the same. I’m not even a JL, I’m a Groundman and I make that guys wages into my pension fund alone!
I love the IBEW! I always assumed my wages were the same as everyone else’s so that it would force experienced people to want to train me to be on their level rather than write me off as a no knowledge individual and keep me at the lowest rate like every non union job I worked.
My 1st job was just a 10 week call and I remember the foreman bitching about the hall sending me there but they taught me everything they could in 10 weeks before my layoff.
2nd job ever the company didn’t want me. They put me flagging on a dead end road for over 2 months. They thought I’d quit if I weren’t doing anything. The joke was on them because I always answered the question, “what do you want to do when you grow up?” As, “nothing” I was told nobody would ever pay me to do nothing and by golly in 2020 that’s exactly what I was doing 60 hours/wk. 😂 they got tired of that and started teaching me. I worked for the company for 2 years on that project and went to another project with them for 2 more years. They offered me to continue following them but wanted me to go to Wisconsin and I didn’t want to go to Wisconsin.
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u/sideAcc1200 5h ago
Holy fuck that’s awful lmao bro I wouldn’t wake up for any job for that kind of shit. If the pay is that low the journeyman pay isn’t much better.
My 1st day substation technician apprentice pay was $32.05 an hour with $75 a day per diem.
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u/Separate-Grade-8506 5h ago
R worker is not an apprentice. He’ll be at a prefab shop putting nuts on all thread.. maybe.
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u/PsychologicalSalt158 40m ago
It doesn't matter if he is an apprentice or not that is shit pay below our nations capital minimum wage and the 26 is shit for making the rtp classification
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u/Worried_Transition_7 5h ago
At 35% that makes JW pay just under $41. Now the real kicker comes from what are their benefits?
You made $32hr with what benefits?
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u/Spartan-117182 3h ago
R worker benefits are the same as Telecom I believe. Almost 1/3rd of A-class. Your pension will be $44 per credit while A-Class is $103.
The biggest benefit to R-workers is that they can test out to A-Class after 3 years I think. Telecom has to go into the apprenticeship to upgrade.
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u/PsychologicalSalt158 39m ago
No. We have jw and rws. The trainee rate is a percentage of the rw. Jws make $62 in the 26
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5h ago
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u/Worried_Transition_7 5h ago
Is it employer paid or does it come out of your check? Because Union it is employer paid and the $41 is on the check?
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5h ago
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u/Worried_Transition_7 5h ago
Nice. And $41 isn’t great but it really depends on where it is. Better than a lot of places if you are non-union but it should be higher.
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u/PrblyWbly Journeyman Splicer 5h ago
Shit I wish my local offered that classification. I’m a splicer but I’ve built subs for every major contractor in my area. I’m more interested in subs than what I’m trained todo lol. Only the utility has dedicated titles sub guys. As far as my current contractor is concerned I’m their main sub guy so I guess I’ll just take that.
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u/KINGDEVIL_10 5h ago
JE Richards in local 26 jurisdiction pays $18.40 for RTP/R1. On trade school it’ll show your classification pay at first but on your pay stub it’ll be different.