Your Questions… Answered!

Leaving IBEW

– If work gets slow, members can’t leave and work for a non-union company without penalty or are unable to return to the IBEW.

All members can work for non-unionized companies if it’s approved by the business manager of the Local. Our agreement simply puts the priority in working for unionized contractors first as we have an obligation to provide labour for our unionized contractors, not the competition.

Residential rates

– Are the rates worth it?

It is True, the residential rates are lower than our ICI rates. This is to stay competitive in the non-union market. The more contractors that are unionized in this sector, the better we can bargain for higher rates. Please see our rate chart for further details.

Union Funds

– What are they? Do we pay for them?

Journeyman & Apprentice Union Funds are contributed on your behalf by the employer and are made up of RRSP’s, Benefits, and other funds like our Recreation Fund to pay for our kids Christmas party, Hockey and Baseball team and Golf tournament. These funds are not subtracted from the ‘base rate’ but in addition to the ‘base rate’. See rate charts.

Other Paid Benefits

– Is there vacation pay, travel pay and mileage if you use your own vehicle?

Yes, we have 10% vacation and stat holiday pay on residential projects and 12% on ICI projects that is paid out weekly. Travel is also included on certain jobs based on the location of the job and can include both mileage and a travel allowance. If the employee is using a company vehicle than they can be paid driving time.

Job security

– Will employees keep their jobs with our current contractor or only certain amounts of employees be allowed to work from the London local in Kitchener or out of town. (Example. will our contractor need to have Kitchener local guys on the Kitchener sites or do our current guys take priority). 

Everyone that is currently with your contractor can stay with your contractor. If the contractor wishes to hire more labour than the contractor will reach out to the Local where the work is being done in to ask for more. If layoffs do take place, what happens now? With us, you have a team finding you another placement.

Weekly Hours

– How many hours do employees have to work?

Between 37.5 and 40 hours per week. Depending on the job. Shift premiums are also enforced for afternoon and overnight shifts.

Foreman

– What are the roles & responsibilities of a Foreman or General Foreman?

On a job requiring 4 employees, 1 will be made as the foreman. On a job requiring 2 foremen, 1 will be made a general foreman. A foreman cannot direct a crew of more than 12.

Changing from ICI to Residential

– How can employees switch from ICI to Residential. How does the list work?

Ideally, you would stay working with your contractor but if you choose to move on or the work slows down then you are able to return to the union hall and join the list system. In London, we only have one list and you are able to take any type of job that is available. In Kitchener, they have two lists where you can choose which one you would like to commit to for a period of 6 months. When moving to the other sector for the first time and you do not like it, you are able to switch back before the 6-month period is up.

Choosing Locals

– When my contractor joins the IBEW, what happens to guys that live outside the London local?

If our organizing campaign is successful, then the employees will have a choice of which Local they would like to belong to, and this will not affect their employment. Usually, you would belong to the local to which jurisdiction you reside in.

Tools

– a big thing for a bunch of guys is the number of tools employees are required to have, especially for new guys. 

As an IBEW member, you are only required to provide a small set of hand tools. See Tool List provided for details. All other tools are provided by the contractor.

School/books

– What does the IBEW provide for members required to go to trade school?

Local 120 London has a library of books that our apprentices sign out when heading to school, this results in a savings of $500+. We also have our training centre made available for study groups and tutoring.

Training

– What does the IBEW offer for training? (My current contractor does not provide paid training. They pay for the training itself, make it mandatory, but won’t pay for the time there.)

Each Local has a full training center. In London, we host 5 levels of in class and hands on/ booth wiring training for our apprentices in each year of their apprenticeship. We also have contractor paid training in the following courses.

• WHMIS 2015

• Working at Heights

• Mobile Elevated Working Platform

• Workers Health & Safety Awareness in 4 Steps

Many Voluntary Courses are also available and include but are not limited to the following,

• Arc Flash

• Confined Space

• Lock out/ Tag out

• All terrain Forklift/ On slab Forklift

• Virtual Reality and Artificial Reality Headsets

RRSP’S/ Retirement

-Employees have been told that if you leave the IBEW, all your retirement that the IBEW put in or matched gets taken away.

All RRSP contributions are provided by the employer. There is no matching. All RRSP’s contributed are yours forever, even if you were to leave the IBEW. We also have a Pension we contribute to which is a portion taken from your monthly membership dues. After qualifying for retirement as a member in good standing you will be able to draw from this as well.

Consider the difference… An IBEW Journeyman in residential will make 4.93/hr x 2000 hrs/yr = $9860+. We’re not even including the International Pension! What is your current plan?

Dues

-We’ve heard dues are expensive and don’t make unionizing worth it?

We breakdown dues into 2 categories; Monthly Membership Dues & Working Dues. Membership dues are $43.70/month and a portion of that is part of your international pension plan. This keeps the union running. Working dues are 1.25% of your gross wages (the lowest in the province) and keep the local union hall running. All expenses and funds are reviewed by all of the members every month and democratically voted on there use.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact

Taylor House at 226-376-7556 (cell) or email at thouse120@execulink.com