|
More Info Union Membership Benefits Union and Non-Union Wages & Benefits |
"How much will it cost me to join the union?" That's the question that organizers usually hear just after they've told an unrepresented carpenter how much the union wage rate is, according to Pat Lindstrom, an organizer for the UBC's Michigan Regional Council.
But what non-union carpenters in the U.S. and Canada should be asking themselves is, "How much is it costing me not to join the union?"
If they do the math, they'll find out it's costing them plenty. In fact, paying "non-union" dues–meaning the difference in wages between the union rate and their non-union rate–takes a heckuva lot more out of their pockets than monthly union dues ever could. And unlike union dues that go toward protecting its members and their work, "non-union" dues go straight into the bosses' pocket.
"A lot of times carpenters working nonunion think that they have to pay a big initiation fee or pay a lot in monthly dues to join," says Lindstrom, once a non-union drywaller himself. "Non-union contractors and foremen play up those myths to keep guys on the job."
In Michigan, for example, union carpenters working residential get $18.39 an hour plus $2.61 in a benefits package. Benefits include family health insurance, a pension plan, and apprenticeship and journeyman-upgrade training. Dues are $20 a month.
A residential carpenter in Michigan who commands even the equivalent of the union rate on a non-union job still loses that $2.61 an hour in benefits. If they work a 40-hour week, they give up more than $104 a week. That's monthly non-union dues of $416–a steep price to pay in exchange for no health benefits or pension plan.
Even for non-union carpenters lucky enough to work for a contractor who offers health benefits and some form of a retirement plan, a monthly co-payment would most likely come out of his net wages. Union contractors pay workers benefits in addition to their hourly wage. The story is the same all over North America.
In New Orleans, where non-union drywall carpenters earn between $10-12 dollars an hour with no benefits, non-union carpenters are giving away even more.
Union drywallers there earn $13.55 an hour plus $3.20 in benefits. Monthly dues are $26.32. A non-union drywaller in New Orleans working a 40-hour week and earning $12 an hour is losing $248 a month in wages and $512 in benefits. That's $760 a month he's paying his boss not to be in the union.
In St. Louis, commercial carpenters earn $24.64 plus $5.34 in benefits working union. Dues are $20 a month, plus 37 cents for every hour worked. That's $79.20 a month in dues for straight forties. Non-union rates vary around $16 an hour with no benefits. A non-union carpenter is paying his boss $1,382 a month in wages alone–that's more than $16,000 a year!–for choosing not to work at the union rate. That's an expensive "non-union" membership. Exclusive country clubs don't even charge members that much.
In Southern California, wage disparity between union and non-union carpenters can be more than $9 an hour. That's $360 a week a carpenter would pay his boss to work non-union. In Toronto, recently organized residential trim carpenters are seeing their piece-rate wages rise 30-60 percent, plus benefits. Monthly dues are $20 a month. That's $20 to earn from one-third to two-thirds more in wages.
"A lot of guys are willing to sacrifice wages in exchange for steady employment," says Mickey Jacobs, business agent at New Orleans Local 1846. "They argue that union carpenters get laid off, and they can't afford for that to happen to them."
"I tell them that they can't afford not to join the union for an extra $80 to $100 a week in wages."
Working straight forties, a union carpenter in New Orleans can earn the same yearly wage as a non-union carpenter in six fewer weeks, plus keeping his benefits.
"Non-union carpenters are basically buying their jobs," says Mark Bean, an organizer for the UBC's Pacific Northwest Regional Council. "They're paying their employers a lot of money in lost wages and benefits just for the privilege of working at the trade.
"They could get their fair share for a lot less if they joined the Carpenters' union."
Click to find out more:
- Union Membership Benefits
It's worth being a member! - Union and Non-Union Wages & Benefits
A graphic comparison...