Professions are the most important part of every individual’s life. We need money to keep our lives living. And the possible way of earning money is by working in institutions. Having an institutionalized job means one is a professional. In the fields of profession, there are varieties of divisions as well based on the types of authority. The most common divisions found in almost every work are based on unions. Now the individual chooses whether they are willing to work in a union company or a non-union one. Different countries have different rules for this categorization in work.
Most of the employees get to choose in their career field which company to join and work for a company run by the local Unions or the private non-union one! One of the very common places where this division becomes very prominent is in the electrical sector employment. In the US, the Electrical industry works hugely on these two divisions. The employees are keener to join the local union of electricians International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
The field of electrician has a huge scope for growth in it. But, one needs to have a clear idea of what are the different fields available in between. Both for the freshest job seeker and the experienced electrician, one must know the difference between non-union and union electricians. Here, we will outline the common yet significant differences between the union and the non-union electricians.
Union Electrician:
A union electrician has been an outstanding professional. He/she belongs to the local chapter of a within the nation or beyond nation trade union or labor union. IBEW is such an organization that trains union electricians with predetermined and professional expertise within the US. Such training is given by the NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association) as an apprenticeship program. Also, IBEW is a part of one of the largest federations of union organizations in the USA. The name of the organization is the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
About the Unions:
The unions are more indulged in imparting training on skills for the union electricians. The highly trained personnel then get jobs in reputed contracts in the industry. The main jobs of the union as well as non-union electricians are the same; only they belong to different companies. They both are responsible for creating the designs and installing them along with maintenance. The difference between them is that the union electricians sometimes are experts in certain specific fields.
There are other electrical services that these union electricians and Electrical Contractors also serve. These are-
- Telecommunication wiring
- Commercial and Industrial electrical installation
- Residential electrical wiring
Non-Union Electrician:
The definition of a non-union electrician is as same as that of a union electrician from the technical point of view. But the one place where it differs is their employment status or company. They are part of the non-union shops. They can also be independent contractors as well. They can also own their own non-union electrical business. The non-union electricians mostly get training from other private vocational institutions like an apprenticeship with contractual companies or trade schools. Independent Electrical Conductors (IEC) and Associated Builders and Contractors Inc (ABC) are two of the most popular vocational institutions for such training and job.
The employees get their training from different companies, and their qualification levels and expertise would be different from each other. However, their day-to-day responsibility is as same as that of the union electricians. There is something advantageous for non-union electricians. They can have opportunities to work and earn outside their occupational space as well. Sometimes, even unions hold contractual offers as well. This happens in places like the southern US.
Advantages of Union Electricians:
Job Security and Stability: Union electricians are in safer positions than that non-union electricians. Government or Union jobs provide the person with job security. However, there is lesser scope for improvement or advancement. But, union electrical jobs are stable ones. During the work time, they get well paid. After retirement, they have pension schemes as well. The job timing is also quite flexible. Hence the person gets enough time to spend time with family than the non-union electricians.
Scope: The scope of the non-union electrical jobs is comparatively higher than that of the union electrical works. Under union-run electrical places, there is a stipulated work time which is standard. So, after putting maximum productivity in the institutionalized place, there is lesser scope for the union electricians. However, non-union electricians are not bound to work for that stipulated time. They are free to choose their jobs and work time. Hence, they always have a better scope. They can learn more and practice more.
Benefits: In the case of benefits, the union electrician is in a more advantageous position. The benefits of the job are higher. They enjoy promotions and incentives. They have pension schemes after retirement. They also enjoy health benefits.
Conclusion:
The job of an electrician is even more tactful and of huge skill. But the scope for this job is different in different sectors. Here is a clear idea of the divisions of electricians and the benefits that the union electricians enjoy better.
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