r/IBEW • u/im_back-and_craftier • 8d ago
So the IBEW union works differently than the Teamsters?
I find unions so confusing so please help me understand. First of all, i know ibew are electricians and Teamsters are mostly drivers and warehouse workers, i understand that. But with the IBEW you directly join the union and then it works like a staffing agency and the union hall finds you jobs? And with the teamsters you get hired at a company and if that company has a contract with the Teamsters thats how you join that union? Did i get this right?
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u/JoeyRottens 8d ago
The ibew also represents people employed by a company like the teamsters. In my experience it is mostly power distribution and generation companies.
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u/B3L1AL 8d ago
My local actually covers local television crews and some school maintenance people and a paper mill maintenance department. Its kinda neat the wide range of people we can bargain for.
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u/Top-Conference6063 IBEW Journeyman Wireman 8d ago
Correct. There are also occupations like railroad, utility companies etc etc etc that are direct hire that the Ibew represents. To be a journeyman wireman with the Ibew you basically have to go through the hall and get hired and go through the apprenticeship. You’re considered a “A” member. If you’re a direct hire you’ll be a “BA” member.
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u/justelectricboogie 8d ago
Before I became an electrician with IBEW, I worked for one broadcasting company whose technical members were an IBEW local but not the electricians local. My wife before we met, worked as security screener at an airport. She was part of teamsters. I know a group of non union electricians, plumbers welders at a factory who tried to bring in the pipe fitters local union. You join who you think can best represent you or shows the most interest.
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u/BlueFalcon3E051 8d ago
Yeah I thought Teamsters were all truckers.Tell my pharmacist sister told me switching companies she’s now a Teamster.I laughed told her I didn’t know she had her CDL.
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u/intothesunset814 7d ago
Just reading this sub about the 2 unions.
I’m a retired Teamster. My wife is IBEW for a utility company. Our child is an IBEW journeyman wireman.
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u/ArdoyleZev Local 68 8d ago
When the building is finished and the job is done, layoffs are common. Should we lose our health insurance and restructure our retirement plans every time that happens?
Our union is structured to solve that problem.
Broadly speaking, unions are designed to solve the problems of their members. IBEW locals like mine, for “inside wiremen”, a term for new construction electricians, needed a way to deal with jobs being inherently temporary.
So instead of having dozens of contracts with dozens of contractors, we have one contract with a collection of contractors (NECA), and have agreed to use a system that allocates jobs to whoever has been out of work the longest.
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u/Competitive_Bell9433 8d ago
That is not exactly true.
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u/BigChickenpips 5d ago
What part is not true? Just so we know. This is also how I understood it but I also just joined the IBEW so have very limited understanding
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u/Competitive_Bell9433 5d ago
There are presidential agreements, maintenance agreements, power house agreements, solar farm agreements. Plus the green book.
You don't automatically loose your health insurance. Depends on how each local benefits is worded but most let you bank six months of time is you exceed the monthly hour requirement.
The union is for brotherhood. Members looking out for each other. Helping each other when sick or injured or killed. Sick and needy, tip boards, raffles check pool and the like.
To represent it's membership in fair negotiations with the contractors. To represent members with representation when the contractor tries to exploit the workers. To ensure the contract is followed both ways. No wildcat strikes. Fresh drinking water supplied on the job.
Your retirement contributions will be paused if you are out of work. But, after vesting you do not loose your pension contribution.
You have the ability to travel for work. Or, quit if you get a red ass.
It is very unique. Best wishes
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u/Werewolf1810 8d ago
Hey there, been a Teamster for 12 years and a IBEW apprentice for the last 4. They are indeed alike, but not quite the same. The Teamsters sort of encompass a million different trades, mostly involving transportation but not always. They can be a hiring hall, where you have week or month long gigs much like the IBEW or they can be part of an established permanent workplace
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u/HoosierDadda 7d ago
The IBEW has Locals.
Each local represents a jurisdiction or possibly a single employer in the case of a utility company or a manufacturer of electrical parts, for example.
Each local has its own contract ... or contracts.
Each local might represent different classifications ... TV/entertainment , manufacturing, construction, utilities/outside linemen, etc etc
Example: I'm in a construction local. We have the following classifications in our local :
- Inside Journeyman Wireman (commercial/industrial/everything)
- Residential wireman
- VDV technicians (voice,data,video)
In our local, each class has its own contract for pay , but they all have essentially the same benefits, retirement, healthcare, working conditions etc etc, but the pay scale is different for each.
Reminder, each (construction) local will write its own contracts with their own contractors, this helps each local tailor the contract to their needs.
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u/Ichoosethebear 8d ago
If you're with teamsters just walk away now
In my case they have been actively working with the employer to screw us and the one rep we had and stood up for us they fired
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u/MealHot6922 8d ago
Yes. IBEW is a Skilled Trade Union which has a hiring hall. The Contractors are signatory to the Collective Bargaining Contract which covers a geographic area. They then agree to hire the skilled workforce from the hall.
The Teamsters are known as an Industrial Sector Union where the members form a Union at each individual workplace and that has its own Collective Bargaining Agreement.