Who's a lineman?

[egdede]

I just saw this. Hey OP go find a career that doesn't offend your other personal priorities. You'll just end up bitter after working for an evil union. Life is too short. Make it sweet. Find something that makes you happy!!!

I'm a former teamster. I understand unions are not perfect. But unions like the IBEW helped many families enter the middle class. Don't go riding union coat-tails now if you don't like unions. The reason a lineman's job is worth looking at these days is because of the strong union, not despite it.

One thing I hated in my union job (that paid better than similar non-union jobs) was newcomers bitching about the union as they enjoyed their better paying jobs.....

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

I just saw this. Hey OP go find a career that doesn't offend your other personal priorities. You'll just end up bitter after working for an evil union. Life is too short. Make it sweet. Find something that makes you happy!!!

I'm a former teamster. I understand unions are not perfect. But unions like the IBEW helped many families enter the middle class. Don't go riding union coat-tails now if you don't like unions. The reason a lineman's job is worth looking at these days is because of the strong union, not despite it.

One thing I hated in my union job (that paid better than similar non-union jobs) was newcomers bitching about the union as they enjoyed their better paying jobs.....

Mc Donald’s is hiring and they are looking for a "LINE MAN" on the hamburger assembly line.…… And you don’t have to be a union member.

 

[Rc_Guy]

I'm about 15 months out from changing careers. I need to be outside and work with my hands not looking at a computer screen and money, while needed, isn't a primary concern. I'm gonna be the oldest guy in any apprenticeship program and that doesn't bug me as long as the "kids" teaching are good at what they do. I hate unions and what they've done to this country...but we'll cross that bridge later.

So looking for the good the bad the ugly?

What have union done to this country? Let me retire at 58? Let my brother retire at 55? Let my son and my brothers son that are also in the same union we are live a good life?

 

[isb cornbinder]

This has been one of the best threads I have had the opportunity to read. Thanks to all who have made this happen.

 

[Kpaige]

This should not be a union or not union thread. OP simply is looking for some info and is changing careers late in life. Maybe having a change of heart towards unions.

 

[Walkers]

Kind of ahead of you. Lineman is in the top five so researching now. Would like to decide before Christmas then start applying to stuff.

I spent 15 years working for the natural gas utility in Az. Non union, good pay and benefits. I worked in customers service half the time doing meter sets, turn ons, appliance service, and in technical services the other half doing pressure regulation, compliance inspections, large meter sets. It was a good job. I have been a welding contractor for 15 years since I left.

 

[Meursault74]

he was a lineman, then got into bricklaying for a little bit.

 

[Rc_Guy]

he was a lineman, then got into bricklaying for a little bit.

Who is he?

 

[Meursault74]

Who is he?

William "The Refrigerator" Perry


I'm not even a football fan, but this guy transcended into popular culture back in the day. He's the guy I think of when football lineman is mentioned.

 

[egdede]

He did the superbowl shuffle with 'da bears'

 

[RPH]

Ya, I remember him. Famous short yardage running back!

 

[Rc_Guy]

William "The Refrigerator" Perry


I'm not even a football fan, but this guy transcended into popular culture back in the day. He's the guy I think of when football lineman is mentioned.

I have never watched sports except our own kids and grandkids otherwise I'll watch anything with a motor race.

 

[Meursault74]

I have never watched sports except our own kids and grandkids otherwise I'll watch anything with a motor race.

He was in a bunch of commercials as well.....................

 

[MerlinsBeard]

Mc Donald’s is hiring and they are looking for a "LINE MAN" on the hamburger assembly line.…… And you don’t have to be a union member.

I spent my summer job as a McDonald's burger lineman... before all of this automated stuff either. Hand searing all the patties, toasting the hamburger buns, then doing all the condiment guns, wrapping the burgers and putting them down the chutes. The worse is special orders when you're already batched out the manager's food call. Not particularly hard work, but the pace was crazy during lunch rush and I was mentally drained after the surge was over. Still preferred it over being a cashier.

 

[428PI]

I spent my summer job as a McDonald's burger lineman..

Probably everyone should go through that education.

 

[RPH]

Studies indicate that 12.5% of the American workforce has been employed by McDonald’s sometime in their career.

 

[shawhite]

I'm about 15 months out from changing careers. I need to be outside and work with my hands not looking at a computer screen and money, while needed, isn't a primary concern. I'm gonna be the oldest guy in any apprenticeship program and that doesn't bug me as long as the "kids" teaching are good at what they do. I hate unions and what they've done to this country...but we'll cross that bridge later.

So looking for the good the bad the ugly?

My question is why do you want to be a lineman if money is not the priority. If you are serious I would suggest you enroll in a lineman college like NWLC or similar. This will help you get a feel for what you are getting into and help you get accepted into an apprenticeship program.

 

[matt151617]

Seems like there's a very good chance you'll be working outside in the worst weather.

 

[Zeke]

Lineman. I climbed poles when I was 18 for the phone co. Boring as hell — every day start at the last pole you were on yesterday. Only the change in location made it more interesting. I wasn't climbing poles at 19.

Lot of jobs mimic being a lineman. You can work towers. You could climb trees. You could wash windows on high rises. You could rig sailboats. The list is long and the pay is not bad for any of it.

BTW, copper is dead AFA phones. One day they will be wrecking out all the **** on the poles that has to do with phones, cable, etc.

 

[Debcrow]

BTW, copper is dead AFA phones. One day they will be wrecking out all the **** on the poles that has to do with phones, cable, etc.

We don't need no stinking coppers....
Not for awhile, a lot of rural places are still not accessible over the air. To many of these places the lines already exist to a very small number of customers. Replacing with fiber does not justify the expense.

As has already been stated, being a lineman is very strenuous work, at times under the worst conditions for some very long hours. Not glamorous at all when you are actually HAVING to do it.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Lineman. I climbed poles when I was 18 for the phone co. Boring as hell — every day start at the last pole you were on yesterday. Only the change in location made it more interesting. I wasn't climbing poles at 19.

Lot of jobs mimic being a lineman. You can work towers. You could climb trees. You could wash windows on high rises. You could rig sailboats. The list is long and the pay is not bad for any of it.

BTW, copper is dead AFA phones. One day they will be wrecking out all the **** on the poles that has to do with phones, cable, etc.

not out here.... AT&T has suspended installing any new fiber and theres still tons of POTS lines and hi-caps (T1s) along with EOCs as well

 

[Rc_Guy]

Seems like there's a very good chance you'll be working outside in the worst weather.

Sounds like some of you guys are afraid of hard work and not the best conditions?

What do you think firemen, police, paramedics do, only work in good weather?

 

[Debcrow]

Sounds like some of you guys are afraid of hard work and not the best conditions?

What do you think firemen, police, paramedics do, only work in good weather?

Not afraid, just stating that is the TRUTH of any of those jobs. Not for everyone.

 

[rancherbill]

I’m pretty old.

I will be interested to see if you get a job. There is a shortage of HV electricians. I don't see a company spending time and money on somebody that's going to retire in 10-15 years.

They replaced the poles in front of the house for regular pole replacement, raising the lines and upgrading the carrying capacity. I was talking to him about stuff and journeymen make about $55/hour and they are working about 3000 hours a year. They have flunkies that do the boring dirty jobs on the ground. After several years of working hard, showing up in all weather and being easy to work with they offer apprenticeships to these guys. There's lots of guys that are attracted by the money, but few that stay around long enough to get the apprenticeship.

I wish you well in your career change.

 

[Meursault74]

I will be interested to see if you get a job. There is a shortage of HV electricians. I don't see a company spending time and money on somebody that's going to retire in 10-15 years.

They replaced the poles in front of the house for regular pole replacement, raising the lines and upgrading the carrying capacity. I was talking to him about stuff and journeymen make about $55/hour and they are working about 3000 hours a year. They have flunkies that do the boring dirty jobs on the ground. After several years of working hard, showing up in all weather and being easy to work with they offer apprenticeships to these guys. There's lots of guys that are attracted by the money, but few that stay around long enough to get the apprenticeship.

I wish you well in your career change.

Curious if that's in Canadian dollars. That also looks like a lot of overtime.

 

[rancherbill]

Curious if that's in Canadian dollars. That also looks like a lot of overtime.

It is in Canuck bucks. They work 10-12 per day 6 days a week and then have a 4 day break every third week. They are out of town all the time and do not go home. They are always working in the edge of the road. To do the poles in front of my house they laid 250 meter of swamp mats. I bet they laid kilometers of mats. Then they pick it all up and move it along. They work all winter.

https://northernmat.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/swamp1.png

 

[sea2summit]

Curious if that's in Canadian dollars. That also looks like a lot of overtime.

Journeyman where I’d be working is $63/hr, apprentice starts at 55% and bumps every 1,000 hrs 5%. Everyone I’ve spoken with so far says the journeyman/apprentice ratio is constantly violated because there’s not enough journeymen. They’re working a ton of hours, one guy said he didn’t remember the last two week check he got with less than 100 hrs, most of the time a lot more. Pretty crazy.

 

[matt151617]

Sounds like some of you guys are afraid of hard work and not the best conditions?

What do you think firemen, police, paramedics do, only work in good weather?

Not afraid, it's just reality. Plenty of people think they're ok with working in bad weather until they're actually out there when it's -20 trying to do something that requires fine detail, and you have to take your gloves off. Or not realizing that -20 and windy is a completely different set of conditions compared to -20 and sunny.

Power lines fail in the worst of conditions- big storms and extreme weather. Late at night, on holidays, on weekends. Far away from home. These are all things that need to be considered.

 

[bobg03]

I had an IBEW Job before I graduated high school when I turned 18, worked second shift til graduation then was put on days for more exposure and training in the facility, a strike 2 years in took me out of that career and I then went to a non union pharma company that was a sought after place to get hired.

I had 25 years at a large pharma, 2 years as a chemical operator (I unloaded tank trucks and rail cars of things used in manufacturing) I transferred to the safety dept as a FireFighter as I had outside experience and all the state certs needed. As I approached 40 years of age I transfered to the maintenance group in research to finish my last 12 years on a normal work schedule. I was corporately downsized at age 46 and separated. Had that been a union job with the knowledge of the 4.2 million square ft campus I worked on it never would have happened.

I was in good physical shape and vowed that I would never work a non-union job again. I took a job at a Class 1 railroad to secure another pension even tho it meant working til 65, seemed like a good career move. At 60 years old my health caught up to me and I was awarded a disability annuity til I reach full legal retirement age (66.7) and then will get my pension.

The point of this is depending on your health and age the lord only knows what your future holds. I was extremely thankful that I went back to a union job or who only knows whose basement or car I would have been living in today.

Life is painful, but it's good.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Not going to address union vs non-union benefits but most municipals, coops, and construction contractors that I have run into are non-union if that is your preference.

 

[LOW1]

It is in Canuck bucks. They work 10-12 per day 6 days a week and then have a 4 day break every third week. They are out of town all the time and do not go home. They are always working in the edge of the road. To do the poles in front of my house they laid 250 meter of swamp mats. I bet they laid kilometers of mats. Then they pick it all up and move it along. They work all winter.

https://northernmat.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/swamp1.png

By our ontario place 80% of the hydro poles seem to be either stuck in a swamp or cribbed in on top of rock. And they are always getting knocked down quickly by a falling pine tree or slowly by frost heaves. It's a never ending job to keep stuff working.

Even with Canadian pesos the delivery charge on the hydro bill ain't cheap because of this environment - a lot of hard miles to keep working and relatively few customers to share the cost for it.

Winter seems to be a favored time to install poles as the swamps are frozen and the poco's tracked work vehicles have an easier time of it.

We are on an island and the poco needed to replace the transformer. It serves three customers. They brought the new one in by helicopter. I suspect that was an expensive switchout.

 

[Sumboodie]

I thought you were talking about lineman in the ball game haha.

 

[shawhite]

Journeyman where I’d be working is $63/hr, apprentice starts at 55% and bumps every 1,000 hrs 5%. Everyone I’ve spoken with so far says the journeyman/apprentice ratio is constantly violated because there’s not enough journeymen. They’re working a ton of hours, one guy said he didn’t remember the last two week check he got with less than 100 hrs, most of the time a lot more. Pretty crazy.

First step apprentice is starting in at $34?

 

[sea2summit]

First step apprentice is starting in at $34?

In school you’re at 50% but yes.

 

[shawhite]

Is that Alaska? Definitely paying better than Florida.

 

[sea2summit]

Is that Alaska? Definitely paying better than Florida.

Yeah, Alaska. Lot’s of complaints about working in the gloves…can’t imagine why

 

[shawhite]

Doing hot work in insulating gloves and sleeves will take some getting use too.

 

[rancherbill]

In school you’re at 50% but yes.

Look like good living wages. I am surprised that they also have a contract with tree trimmers. There's an apprentice program - cool.

 

[Rc_Guy]

Look like good living wages. I am surprised that they also have a contract with tree trimmers. There's an apprentice program - cool.

Isn’t it the trimmers employed by the power company?

 

[shawhite]

Isn’t it the trimmers employed by the power company?

A lot of utilities bid out the tree work.