Getting into an hvac union

Next year I'm suppose to go to community college for a year for HVAC, is that a bad choice in North Carolina. I been reading the comments in the forum. Also will the HVAC field employers hire a person with a felony drug conviction? I was told that the residental side of it and working on the residental side was out, because of the drug conviction, the commerical side was the only choice for me, is that true? Also, this is not a good field to go into, I always see ads for hiring? Whats the best way to get employment here in North Carolina?

Theodore in Hickory, North Carolina said: Next year I'm suppose to go to community college for a year for HVAC, is that a bad choice in North Carolina. I been reading the comments in the forum. Also will the HVAC field employers hire a person with a felony drug conviction? I was told that the residental side of it and working on the residental side was out, because of the drug conviction, the commerical side was the only choice for me, is that true? Also, this is not a good field to go into, I always see ads for hiring? Whats the best way to get employment here in North Carolina?

From my past experience it was never easy to get employed after college. But you are still better than the next guy without the diploma. The drug conviction is not good as you can not be bonded I think, usually also civil service jobs are out. Hopefully in time you may be able to have the conviction pardoned . Canada allows this if you have been a good boy for a long time, clean drug tests etc.
Be determined and you may succeed, when you get a job show up on time every day straight and sober not hung over, our work requires the worker to be alert all the time it can be very dangerous.

tom in Edwardsville, Illinois said: yeah. i don't mean to sound a debbie downer, but i've been to a couple of the parts houses, they all say the same thing lol. "i dunno man - leave me your resume maybe i'll hear something"...
god i wish i could go back 2 years and just to my local community college's 2 year nursing program instead of this "HVAC" crap. what a horrible waste of time and money.
well at least i hear other people are also having a hard time finding a first job in this field and it's not just me, like that really matters anyways lol.
i'm considering bankruptcy now.
i'm considering maybe tyring to sell my house, if it sells if not just let them foreclose on it i don't care anymore, and moving into some cheap trailer somewhere and working at mcdonald's and getting on as much welfare and food stamps as i can.
screw it lol. nobody wants to give me a job then the economy can suck up my debt and failure lol. i'm tired of working my a$$ off just to pay for the big bank executive's bailout and everything else.

LOL your not alone in thinking this way. :cheers:

BRIAN in Germantown, Maryland said: DOES ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE UNION FOR HVAC IN MD

My husband works for the Sheet metal workers local 100 which is Baltimore/DC. Benefits are wonderful, pay is great compared to his previous non union pay which was about $9 less per hour. The only complaints either of us have are the unpaid holidays (which if your considered DC you get paid holidays) and the fact that they (in the last couple years) took away the vacation fund (which just means less deducted from your check weekly). Union dues are very inexpensive ($36/month). They can be found on the web at smwlocal100.com/.

i have experianced all types of bone headedness and discriminations in various construction industries-trades.

we got good old boys and the sporter heads much like the game junkies ..then the high fiver knuckel hand bump guys..

i had some forman refuse me saying i didnt look like a construction worker type ????.

there are schools both propritory-pay and city free that teach constrution trades, they are very good .. the sorry problem is there has always been too many graduates -workers , this is even during the so called good times....

big business always is crying that they dont have enough good workers .. this gives fresh applicats the false hope that they can make good money in the future ... its a pymirid scheam..

the only ones really winning and making out big are the ones at the top ..they always give lip service with hope to those climbing there ladder to no where.....

just how much competition can you sustain .. when do you top out..how fast do you go before you drop dead..
yes freedom and capitalism , just who is getting fat now??

i work for a nonprofit who is getting A.R.R.A STIMULUS MONEY .MY PROBLEM IS THEY SAID WE WOULD BE GETTING COMPARBLE UNION WAGES . I BELIEVE THIS IS NOT THE CASE BECAUSE THE HIGHEST WAGES I HAVE GOTTEN WAS $ 20.30 AND THAT WAS ONLY BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE ANY BENEFITS AT THE TIME . NOW I GET $ 17.68 I BELIEVE AS A WORKER WHO IS EXPECTED TO TROUBLESHOOT , INSTALL ,BOTH HYDRONIC, STEAM BOILERS , AND THE LATEST 90+ AND BELOW FURNACES AND RELATED PLUMBING ie radators .I should be making around $ 67.00 per hour. What do you think? our carpenters roofers and plumbers make from 43.00 to 60.00 per hour.

Phanique Dupree in Neptune, New Jersey said: I have a hvac certification, EPA , and a 410a Liceince is an Hvac union worth getting into. If so how easy is it to get in.

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011
Wage and Fringe Benefit Rates are as follows:
Classification
Rate
H & W
H.R.A.*
Local
Pension
Vacation
Annuity
Ed
Admin
IND
Nat’l
Pension
Int’l Training Fund
Total Package
Journeyman
$32.50
6.85
1.40
4.60
2.50
2.50
.60
1.06
.05
.88
.10
$53.04
5th Year Appr.
$29.07
6.76
1.40
4.45
2.38
2.42
.59
.99
.05
.88
.10
$49.09
4th Year Appr.
$27.11
6.67
1.40
4.30
2.32
2.36
.57
.88
.05
.88
.10
$46.64
3rd Year Appr.
$22.17
6.55
1.40
4.11
1.91
2.24
.56
.76
.05
.88
.10
$40.73
2nd Year Appr.
$17.61
6.46
1.40
3.86
1.49
2.18
.54
.70
.05
.88
.10
$35.27
1st Year Appr.
$15.12
6.39
1.40
3.71
1.33
2.10
.54
.62
.05
.88
.10
$32.24
Toolperson
$14.97
6.85
--
--
1.45
1.93
--
.65
--
2.20
---
$28.05
*H.R.A. (Health Reimbursement Assistance) is part of the Welfare Fund. It is being segregated for accounting purposes only.
* THE NATIONAL PENSION / INTERNATIONAL TRAINING FUND CONTRIBUTIONS ARE BASED ON HOURS WORKED ***
** Please note the following funds Vacation, Admin are taxable. They should be added to the base wage rate and after the appropriate taxes are withheld, DEDUCT GROSS AMOUNT FROM PAY. The gross contribution amount should be remitted to the fund office along with all of the benefits above.**
SERVICE RATES 2011

Phanique Dupree in Neptune, New Jersey said: I have a hvac certification, EPA , and a 410a Liceince is an Hvac union worth getting into. If so how easy is it to get in.

ua local 21 35 hr plus 2.50hr in annuity and 2.50 vacation plus the pension. You tell me. $0 hours a week plus ot paid holidays and steady work. &100,000.00 a year. Union yes.

Phanique Dupree in Neptune, New Jersey said: I have a hvac certification, EPA , and a 410a Liceince is an Hvac union worth getting into. If so how easy is it to get in.

It's not entirely about money. WHEN I started back in 1974 with SMWIA local 85 I wanted to learn a trade, and the school is provided for, doesn't cost the apprentices a thing to learn the trade, still the same way today. As for you, you are already a mechanic, so what they would do is put you in the light commercial department which only lasts 2 years. You would be making full benifits, which is a good retirement and good health insurance. If you were to be laid off by a company, you sign the books and go out to the next job when your name comes up. Naturally it would be first to sign, first to go out. Right now, like every industry work is slow, however during my days as a union sheet metal worker, I have lived through recessions before. Our union and our union contractors have a very good relationship going. There has been no strike in our union in decades.

I believe in letting a man or woman be union or nonunion whichever is their choice. I don't believe someone with your experience would have any trouble at all getting in with the union. My local is in Atlanta and we cover all of the State of Georgia and part of Alabama. GOOD LUCK to you which ever road you take.

Rufus Hannah in Alton, Illinois said: You may as well get a job at McDonald's. Without a doubt you would have a hell of a lot better chance of getting hired. Plus the pay would be about the same as an entry level HVAC tech and you would not have to supply your own tools. Maybe after a few years you could work your way into management and then you will be making the big bucks.

I think what these trade schools are doing is borderline illegal. They no damn good and well when you sign up that you are more than likely not going to get a job in this field but they do not care as long as they get your money.

Right now I'm out of work and I have no intention of getting a job unless I find something that pays a living wage. I would rather panhandle then be taken advantage of. With the wages that these people are offering now and days, it's not like I'm not going to be living under a bridge sooner or later. Google "Rufus Hannah." This is what my future has in store.

The four year technical school the union provides is free, and you would be making about half of $29.70 an hour, going to school one night a week, first two years and two nights a week when you started your welding class in the third year of your apprenticeship.

we are currently looking for a hvac tech in acton mass anyone with experience mostly residential send resume to papaliaplumbing.com must be able to be on call and work monday-friday

I hate to sound negative, but my HVAC degree is little better than toilet paper in Michigan. Also wish I spent my $400 of useless EPA, R-410A, ESCOs, and NATE core on bills or gas. Every single employer I've walked into told me they didn't care if I had a Bachelor's from Ferris State, they won't hire anyone without five years of experience. So the whole point of an HVAC degree in my state is to basically help the Good Ol' Boy club of service and installer techs keep their jobs when their bosses force them to get a degree. Didn't help either that No Worker Left Behind forced me into HVAC when I had 5 other career paths they supposedly approved, but shot down because they had to put as many heads into the program to get their allotment of Obama dollars. Doesn't help that I just turned 30 and have ZERO experience in that GD field and will never get any before I'm 40. Thought about joining the Local 80 Sheet Metal workers, but they haven't taken apprentices since 2009 because of the @55tacular economy around here. Same diff with the 636 Pipefitters. Actually took their nutbuster entrance exam in 2008, bricked horribly on it because nobody told me they had 100 questions of sheet metal pattern questions which you literally had 30 seconds each to answer. Got royally screwed by the IBEW Local 58. I'm "eligible" for apprenticeship till April 2013, but I have to either somehow get 1000 hours of scab time or pay out of my pocket for a blueprinting and a trade electrical class at MCC because I used up all my FAFSA money on my worthless Climate Control Tech degree. Doesn't help that the IBEW controls ALL the gravy jobs in the metro Detroit area, either. So HTH am I supposed to scab anywhere? My only hope is the MRCC 1102 Millwright apprenticeship, but at best I was told I had only 1/3 chance of getting it by the intake Journeymen in May. Been almost a month since I heard anything from them. Currently stuck working a woman's job at an optics coating lab making crap

If anyone here thinks Johnson Controls will give them a reach-around, think again... I've applied a dozen times for chiller and service mechanic APPRENTICESHIPS and got shot down every time. Talked to some people at Oakland Community College and they all told me what I sort of knew about JCI already. They take Journeymen plumbers and electricians for those positions, wipe their @55 with their cards, shoot down their pay rates, and force them to start all over on some b@ll5h@t 1%er club union apprenticeship. The real kicker is JCI takes 5 weeks to tell you by e-mail to GFY. Kind of why I'm stuck working a dead-end QC job in optics with ZERO overtime because my kaizen-loving German conglomerate employer engineered a blue-collar job into a no-collar job. Anyone here thinking about HVAC for a career, GET INTO NURSING OR IT NOW! Save yourselves from the butt-hurt, lies, and disappointment. Unless you already have 5 years in the trade, you can't even get rock-bottom non-union work being someone's b@%^&.

Bob B in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania said: The same thing is happening in PA they all want 3 to 7 years experience maybe you might try getting into an intern program that will help get your experience or go to hvac supply houses where the local contractors get their supplies and offer to work with them to get yoyr experience that way.

Try to consider a maintenance position for, grocery store or food warehouse chain, retirement community, high schools, college's, university that will help get the experience and also benefits

Try a maintenance position for a grocery store chain, food warehouse, college's, universities, hospital's this will help with the experience and benefits

No offense Miss Derr, but HVAC is basically DEAD to me as a career field. It's as close to a Webster's definition of non-starter as you can get. The grocery stores like Kroger and Meijer in Michigan all somehow want journeymen. HTH does one become a Journeyman in a trade where a frigging apprenticeship doesn't exist? As for colleges, they've got their own impossible union to get into, they're just AFSCME instead of IBEW or IBPFAP. Don't even get me started on apartment maintenance. How am I supposed to live, let alone have $5000 worth of tools on $10 an hour, while knowing FIVE trades, to basically be an on-call slave to a landlord and their section 8 attitude tenants?

I seen a lot of people on here complaining they can't get into an hvac company due to lack of experience. What you guys need to remember is that all of us were in that boat at one point or another. I am 21 and I have my gas technician 2(in toronto that means servicing and installing equipment up to 400000 btu),
I spent 5 months looking for a job, called over 400 companies in the GTA and went through 3 terrible hvac jobs before i got to where I'm at now. Bottom line is, the more companies you call the better your chances. And make sure you call them back even if they aren't interested. The company i am with now took 3 callbacks before they knew how serious I was about finiding a job. I was selected out of 50 other applicants with resume's. Why? Because when they needed to hire someone, The one ringing there phone off every 2 weeks was the one that came to mind.
Now I almost have my hours for my G1 and am a second year refrigeration apprentice, and I absolutely love my job.

Hi dman44 I liked your story it was inspirational
I wanted to ask how did you go about your phone calls to them and calling them back, how did you handle them when you kept calling them back ?

if you can help me on this one that would help me so much Thank you for posting that so much and take care

"Kurt"

haha Honestly its not hard to handle them. Most of the time you end up talking to the secretary when you call. This is not who you want to speak to. Always ask to speak to the person who is in charge of hiring. Even if they say there is nothing available ask them to keep you in mind if anything comes up in the future, and FOLLOW UP! This is a huge part of it. If you call back 3-4 times they start to remember who you are. They might be rude with you but thats fine, don't take it personally, just remember you are doing this for yourself. It does not matter what some person you talked to over the phone thinks of you, if you've done your homework, there should be plenty more phone calls to make, move on. Always be polite and Talk like a professional. Good Luck!

Ed in Abington, Massachusetts said: I graduated with an Associate Degree in HVAC and i'm really having a hard time finding a job. All i keep hearing is NO JOB EXPERIANCE. I live in Boston,MA and have decided to join an apprentice program but don't really know where to go or where to start from. I really need your advise guys. Life is getting very tough every single day

Go to a right to work state, such as here in Texas, and get paid better, have better benefits, and lots of work!

There's no such GD thing as an HVAC union in Michigan. It's all a Good Ol' Boy club run by the sociopathic kids and grandkids of service company owners who got a free ride but tell people like me with an AAS and an acronym soup of certs to GFY without 3-5 years' experience. The only analogues to HVAC unions used to be the Sheetmetal Workers' 80 and the Plumbers'/Pipefitters' 636 before the economy became permanent 5h@t, and they had to stop taking new apprentices in 2009. I don't know how you're supposed to get an installer's license or refrigeration license when NO ONE will hire me to get time in the pipe to even test for this crap. And don't believe all that horse5h@t from the state or Fed Labor Departments either, no one can afford to retire in droves, and employers only hire OVERQUALIFIED people for low-ball wages to exploit them. I say to anyone under 30 with hope of getting a BS in something, just graduate and go on a work Visa to Europe, Singapore, or Brazil. I hear with the exchange rates and/or better living conditions/worker protections, you'll actually make what you're worth, unlike in the United States of Ponzi Schemes and Bull5h@t.

If you have electronics experience (AC & DC) then you might apply for an internship position with GE Healthcare repairing medical equipment. GE has a one year *paid* internship (around $16-17 an hour) depends on the area of the USA that lasts one year and they usually hire you on full-time at the 6th month period if you work hard and got a good attitude/work ethic. You get a $2 raise when you become full-time.

The more training you get the more you make per hour. Some work 'in house' at a hospital while other biomeds are out on the road every day doing field service repairing specialized medical equipment. The benefits at GE are amazing (health, dental, retirement, tuition reimbursement, training, LTD insurance....etc,etc. If you have a 2 year degree you can apply for a biomed intern position cause I notice many people in this field are getting close to retirement age and this is a job that you won't get laid off from. Even if equipment does NOT break down.... were are still testing and doing calibrations to make sure it is 100% functional are ready to go.

Useless Unions in Minneapolis, Minnesota said: Stay away from the unions! Right now there are over 470 HVAC people on the bench in my union. The people on the bench are forbidden to look for work in their field on their own, you have to wait for the union to find you a job. In the mean time they still have to pay union dues. The medical benefits are terrible. Their is a $25 co-pay per office visit with a family deductable of $6000. We could of had better and cheaper insurance thru my spouse but you can not opt out of the unions insurance. My insurance package cost over $7 a hour, if you do the math and look at the co-pays and deductable this is no bargain.
You also have to remember you are not treated as a human...you are a piece of equipment in their eyes and you are very disposable. The union does not help the members...the stories you hear that the union reps are only in it for them is VERY TRUE!
If you value your rights and your freedom...stay away!

America is a union of fifty states! The pipefitters union in mn. is a great place to start, ignore this untrue reply to stay away from unions I make over 100,000. a year and my employer loves my work preformance. I love my job,my union and my country.

I'm not into the union thing but, you guys are discussing a lot of people are benched. I have work but can't find good, trustworthy and reliable people that can pass a background check. I need people yesterday and can't find anybody. How is that? It's a struggle, even trying to hire from the trade schools!!!

It is hard to find a job in all feilds today. I earned a masters in business and can't get an interview and was thinking of getting HVAC training and starting my own residential company.
So questions. 1. Are there intense Hvac training programs that are 10-20 weeks long instead of 2 years.

I'm just getting into the <a href="www.Nicholson-HVAC.com">HVAC</a> business. Are there different unions in every state or is there one national union?

I'm in the SMW union. I have the best Dental you could ever find, and BCBS health ins and free prescriptions. My Dentist drives a Porsche. We have stewards that are slumps and can't lay them off because the are protected by the union. All the men are protected against unfair labor practices. The union highly regards all it's workers. I've never ever even heard of men being treated like equipment in my over 30 years with the union trades. And when your laid off you can go work doing something else. No on said you can't work. And if you make some calls you can solicit your own work. Every body does it. The union packages differ from area to area and they get renegotiated every 3 - 4 years. The body (Membership= you the member) get to vote and have your voice heard at contract time and your representatives will bargain for what you want including wages and benefits. Don't go bashing unions across the board because you either have a crummy package that you had to vote on. Unless you must be a non union rat that hates unions.

Dose anyone know if there's a hvac union in Houston tx?

Local 486 in baltimore and local 602 in dc are the HVAC unions. 602 pay better but you will get the same apprenticeship training. 602 first year apprentice starting hourly wage is $18.67 working your way up to $37 will you become a journeymen. Just google both for more info

I had a couple questions about the pipe fitters union, I have been looking into joining the pipe fitters union in san jose CA and I knoe alot of this talk is from north east so it might be a little different but i want to know #1 what all in depth will i be tested on for the aptitude test and #2 does the pipe fitters union cover all the HVAC related curriculum and certifications like EPA. I did just graduate from a trade school for my AS degree in HVAC/R but this seems to be my best route

most use the wonderlic?? test V???? depends on the union what training you will get in minnesota, you might be a welder/construction worker/service tech(residential or commercial) there is lots of paths to take but you won't be trained in all areas, too much to know and you can't be good at everything...

every thing said is very true and even much worse ,

even after getting some experiance , the companies have totaly unrealistic employee expatations.

companies, owners, leaders and foremen are out of control !

you will never meet the ideal expetations of human relations-personel,
requirs of a new hire !

unions are arrogent and refuse to accept most experiance unless you have worked for there biggest competors.

with the wide varity of equipment avaliable you will always lack the exact experiance a company wants unless you have personnel connections to open a closed door.

this over supplying of fresh graduates in not new , flooding of market is an old trick the companies like.. yes having too many applicants is good for big business.
now think of the poor guys who joined the military to get experiance and most of it is worthless to the construction business ..

be extra aware of filing fees and testing fees ,,

look out for CRAIGLIST ads ..everyone needs to start answering them ads with trash responces ..make a new email address to answer un-named craiglist helpwanted junk ads and give them news .
learn what the word endentured means and how the unions use it to there best advantage ..

UNION schooling is not free, you must work hours to pay them back or pay cash ...

UNLESS WE ALL SHOUT IT OUT LOUD.
EVERY DAY NO ONE WILL LISTEN OR REMEMBER OUR PLIGHT .

this dirty ugly story must be told to every one ,
lest any one forgets .

PROJECT MANAGEMENT IS OUR ENEMY ,it is they who want to lay off good workes at the end of a phase !

I'm not against "project management is our enemy" since I come from an organization that runs behind it and more and I'm some what tempted to spill the beans to you guy's

for all the things that make little sense or no sense at all

just ask

any sucsess stories??

Long Island, New York... went to a 10 month long trade school for HVAC/R, graduated 12/2010. Found work in the HVAC/R field 2/2011... company van, overtime, health benefits given after 6 months, uniforms... all my boss asks for is 110% effort and he is willing to train. non union..the pay is not the highest $14.00 but I've learned so much that's all that matters right now.

I HAVE RECENTLY COMPLETED A DIPLOMA IN HVAC AT A COLLEGE IN THE USA. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT ROUTE TO TAKE IN ORDER TO WORK IN USA. I AM LIVING IN JAMAICA.

I have doing hvacr f over 10 years its good to b working f a hvacr comp to get more experience so that u can learn more there is a lot to know and it pay good

I have doing hvacr f over 10 years its good to b working f a hvacr comp to get more experience so that u can learn more there is a lot to know and it pay good

eugene in Conyers, Georgia said: The four year technical school the union provides is free, and you would be making about half of $29.70 an hour, going to school one night a week, first two years and two nights a week when you started your welding class in the third year of your apprenticeship.

What is the total package wage. My husband works for local 28 in NYC, and we want to move to Atlanta, Ga. We have also heard that there isn't a lot of work there. Is that true?

Im looking to make a serious career change. I'm interested in the havc trade. Can't seem to get a solid union hallfor hvac. I have thought about going to a community college to take some classes which gets you NATE certified. Is NATE certifications good to have to getting my foot in the door in the industry. Is it recognized in the DMV. Also, what is the take away in doing so as it relates to salary. We all need money to take care of our families.