Good to see some Union brothers amongst us. I'm out of IBEW Local 102..currently 4th year apprentice on a 5 year program...our rate is 30.03 at 4th year.

I'll give you a breakdown-

1st Year- 18.27
2nd Year- 22.38
3rd Year- 26.49
4th Year- 31.06
5th year- 36.54

Journeyman- 45.67
Foreman (1 to 10 men)- 51.26
Sub-Foreman 52.06
Foreman (11 to 20 men) 52.52
General Foreman (21 to 30 men) 53.89
General Foreman (31 to 60 men) 58.46

There are our most current rates, but we're currently working on a "frozen" contract.

The cost of living in NJ is out of control. I'm moving my family to NC, making about the same money, 50k per year, but the cost of living is a lot less. We found a 5br, 3.5 bath, 3000 sq ft house with a 2 car garage on a half acre for 250k. Taxes are 2k per year.

Where in NC? What do you do?

eh, some unions arent what they used to be. mine sucks. more currupt then you can immagine. better then nothing, but its not like it was 20yrs ago when the men had a say. at least in my particular one. im a 5th year, out of my time in sept. our 5th year rate is 34.46, plus vacation. we're probably one of the highest in the UA, and most of the country. plumbers and sprinklers are always within a dollar of us, either way.

as far as benefits.......you wont find any better benefits then in most unions. i have 95% dental converage, nearly full medical, prescription, $250/yr for eyes (which they screwed us on). plus annuity fund, and a vacation fund. i had an ex ***** of mine who worked as some kind of import/export seller. made 2K/week with commisions.....but when she had a root canal done, had to pay $1500 out of her own pocket. when i had one done, it cost me personally less then $100.

so nj85z28......what job are you working on. anyone from your hall up at xanadu yet?

Good deal dude. I can't really conplain about the Carpenters local. Its a strong Union but we really need to get up to par as far a pay goes :) $36.76 ain't cuttin it:rofl:

I just left Bell Labs in Summit for Linear Electric and moved to Preakness Hospital in Wayne for Railroad Construction Electric. As far as I know, most of the electricians at Xanadu are out of Jersey City's local 164, but the Devils Arena is mostly 102 guys, since 164 is refusing to work with StarLo electric. Thats what the guys are saying anyway.

I run a Hallmark store..... and I'm a male yes LOL. I can tell you working retail SUCKS totally. You get to work 7 days a week, every holiday, if someone calls out you have to work for them, and customers are dicks. As for pay I get $250 a week on the books, and the rest is cash. The cash varies on weather or not my sales were good for the week. So my pay could be $400-$500 during a normal week(check+cash), and like....$800-1000 during the holidays. But the perks are my store pays for my car insurance, about 60% of my gas since i drive 30 miles a day, and my cell phone (since i use it for everything store related). I couldn't give an accurate figure on what i make yearly though, its always different. As for living in NJ well, i still live with my parents. Moving out is almost impossible without any help. To buy a house in my town is like $300,000 for a small one, and the places around me are even more expensive! I'll be 23 in august and i want out of my house bad, but i can't afford anything. I'm close to finishing my 2 year degree in law enforcement so i can finally get in the academy and try to get into the Sheriff's Office. Till than i just want out of my parents house!

tell the academy you ran a hallmark and you'll never hear the end of it

Yea i know, my friends call me the snow baby king hahaha. Its a good experience though running a business, i do all the accounting/book keeping as well. But when i join the academy i think my "profession" will change back to my old as a landscaper lol.

my base is $50,105 but at 6 months i was at around $28k. hourly it is about $24 an hour, and i'm on step 1 of a 10 step system that for just an officer tops out at about $75k, however this contract just ended and that should go up at least 14%.

working in retail you make s**t for money. i worked at shop rite for a year and made like 6.50. then i worked at acme for 2 years and made a whopping 8.50. im working at radioshack now and its a pretty easy job, theres alot of down time for you to do whatever you want (for example right now :lol:) i make min wage (7.15?) plus 2.5% commission on stuff over $75. so i make anywhere from $7.15-$8.50 depending on how much i sell. when this semester starts ill be making $8.50 working at one of the computer labs.

no wonder your car is stock :lol:

It's guys like you & the union guys & the full time guys I was mostly referring to about 'total compensation', ie retirement & healthcare. From an accounting point of view, you probably 'make' 20% more then that. And that is good for you. An a lot of unions have fringe benefits via Credit Unions, Pension Plans, etc., like reduced loan costs - that is a nice perk too. In the big pic, that matters. Your pay is often more then the paycheck reflects.

I hate NJ more than I like it.....is that bad lol. I take home about $42k a year in the AF, so not bad. I just wish the cost of living was the same as it is in IL where I'm from. Property taxes are around $1k-$2k a year, houses with 4 bedroom, 2 story, 2 car garages with land run about $155K. Apartment rent would be $200-$300 a month.....also the average cost of a mortgage........I hate NJ

They have no compensation/stipend adjustment based on locale? Sucks.

The AF only has a BAH(basic allowance for housing) adjustment based on location. I get $1100 for housing which would barely cover an apartment/bills associated with it. Atleast I have a roommate for now which takes me down to $650 for a house. Next year is going to be rough though.

Better then nothing, but still sucks.

yea now you see why :lol: and whenever i do have money it has to go to something else other then my car! i just checked my current paycheck its $300 after taxes (but then again thats for 2 weeks :? ) and alot of that is going to my mom since i ran up the CC bill all last year :lol:

i know. our 'package' for a typical journeyman costs the GC about $100/hr, including vacation fund, annuity, benefits, retirement, etc. etc. we just got a credit union, through 102 actually. its not the greatest, but its something. used them when i bought my land in upstate NY. i was going to try for their mortgage but their rates were higher then a regular bank.

all this talk about money made me add up some numbers......doing it the yuppie way, i figured out i make over 70K/yr right now, going to just over 90K in sept. thats all without overtime. no one ever thinks of it in yearly terms because you barely take home 60% of it, and in this area youre lucky if you work a full year.

9/hr lifeguarding, 13.77/hr dispatching at one police department, and 18/hr at the other department

yea dude, if all of union guys worked everyday for a year we'd clean up pretty good especially with overtime!! Alot of the times when a job ends or i get laid off I hide for a couple weeks:)

Base- $62,600
Average OT- $18,000
Benefits package- $16,000 to $18,000
Being the boss- PRICELESS

what kind of business do you run?

So that's where the little ones come from, huh? :lol:

- Justin

dude you shoulda seen the chick i worked with today...SOOOOOOOO hot, but only 16 :-?