Hey guys! I am currently self employed. With the economy I would like to get in the union...steady pay check, insurance....you know the drill. I have about 8 years experience on Case and New Holland skid steers as well as a little time in JD, and Dresser front end loaders, and pretty limited time in Cat and JD excavators. However I think I would be best off starting as an apprentice and get a little more "formal" training on newer equipment. So my question is what is the test like to get the letter of eligibility and second what is the competition like for a union job in Wisconsin? I did hear that a few years ago they were having trouble getting guys to sign up for the union.
I also have experience running field tractors on my father in-laws dairy farm. Mostly older JD's.
I don't know about IUOE Local 139, but I do know how it is in IUOE Local 150 after 45 years as a member. You are kidding yourself if you think membership in The Operating Engineers Union is ticket steady employment. It is true for some, but not for most members. Hundreds of members are lucky to get six months employment in this economy. I can't even imagine any OE local having problems getting people to enroll in the apprenticeship program. Hopefully you have a relative or friend that is a member and is willing to help you. I hope you understand what I mean by my last statement. If you are in, what our government calls a minority group that will be a big plus for getting into any apprenticeship program.
Thanks for your thoughts Tinkerer! My dad worked for Hinkle & McCoy for years in Northern IL. At that time they trenched fiber optics for GTE around Rockford. I am well aware of the winter shut downs, being sent away from home, and being out of work periodically due to other reasons. I am currently a self employed general contractor and am not planning on giving up my license for it. My plan is to keep that going for winter shut downs. My dad has been out of the game for almost 20 years now. I do have a neighbor who is currently in the union. I am sure I will be calling on him for a little help if need be. I am not expecting this to be a walk in the park by any means. I do however have high hopes of things working out.
I cant really speak about 139, but if its like the loacals I know of, I strongly recommend to try to get in as a journeman first.If you have the experence you say you have. If you go in as an apprentice, you will get a LOT less work, for lower wages than if you can get in on permit. The union itself is good, but the apprenticeship is kind of a hard road! Because the guys in the other trades are sometimes afraid to work around any operator with the title of "apprentice", no matter how many years of previous experience the guy has. And if a crew of labors or pipefitters or what have you refuses to work with you, they are not going anywhere, but your back to the training center. The apprentice programs have totally different rules regarding hiring than the regular hiring halls, so you cant go buy what members tell you-unless they are pretty recent graduates of the program. The training programs do turn out some very good hands but not everyone makes it. A lot of people get discouraged and quit. If you have experience I think its a lot of trouble to go through. It's like a person who already graduated college having to take freshman year again. I could only recommend the formal training program for a young person who does not have a family to support. I don't want to discourage anyone if that's what they want but go in with your eyes open. I just think your chances for sucess are better by learning some other way and joining the union some other way if you can.
As stated above, skip the apprenticeship, you have experience, use that to your advantage, talk to your neighbor, he should be able to hook you up with a BA and sighn you up, after that you can go to the 139 training center and advance your skills. good luck, Lee
Thanks guys! Your insight has been helpful. I just figured that with most of my experience being in a skid steer that the apprenticeship might be the way to go. Like I mentioned the amount of time in an excavator is pretty limited, but I have spent a fair amount of time in a front end loader. I just might take your advice and try to skip the apprenticeship and go straight to journeyman. I do understand being a bit nervous around a new operator. That is something that I had not thought about. Thank you for bringing that to my attention as well.
I just wish I knew more about the loacal in your state so I could help more. The locals I know of, apprentices run skid steer a lot. Along with ashphalt rollers, forklifts, and most other things not a lot of guys want to run. You said youre neighbor is in that local, if he is not a graduate of the apprentice program-he might not know. But ask him to ask apprentices, (when they're alone) what it's like. That's the only additional advice I can think of. You said you are self employed, maybe you can sign up as an owner-operator? You might have to pay benefits on yourself, (but then your covered by beneftis) I don't know how much that costs, but if you can do that- if 139 is like the east coast loacals then you could become a member that way?
I talked with a union 139 rep. on the phone. He said that they prefer for every member to go through the apprenticeship program. Even those who have been in the trade for several years. He said that I can skip it by either getting hired on by a company and having them sign off on me, or testing out on three pieces of equipment. He also cautioned me that almost everyone that tries this fails. He basically told me that they set these test to ridiculous standards almost everyone is guaranteed to fail. He said that it could be anything from dig a basement to with in a 1/10" in all directions to carry grade to with in 1/16" for 100 yards. He also said that you have to test out on three different pieces of equipment. Over all he was not very encouraging in the skipping the apprenticeship end of things. I also spoke with a few contractors about getting hired on directly. They said they only pull from the union hall. So here goes nothing...in May! It looks like I have to take the long road to the journeyman's spot...
Hi Irishbull, With the limited various equipment experience you state you have I think you are absolutely on the right track to consider the apprentice program. If you do squeak in as a journeyman, by testing out, which I to think is a long shot by your listed skills, you will be limited pretty much to the skid loader, forklifts, maybe a hoe and the like. If you decide to take the apprenticeship route, do every thing you can to take the crane classes and get your CCO certificate. The pay can be much higher and the work is a lot steadier. I run work nation wide for Wisconsin's largest GC and I can tell you for certain that when work get slow, it is our crane hands who we keep working, even if they are running a dirt machine (your job) in the slow times.