Union electrician spitefully applies to low-wage jobs requiring expert skills to waste unjust employers' time in interviews

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    Smiling worker in blue coveralls leaning near equipment in a workshop.
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    I'm a union electrician. I started going to maintenance interviews just to make employers offering low wages waste their own time.

    It started after a customer kept trying to poach guys from my crew every time we went to work at his place. They don't want to pay union rates, so they're looking for an in-house electrician they can pay a small fraction of what they pay us.
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    To be clear, I'm not applying to rival non-union contractors. That's a clear line I won't cross.
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    What I do is look on Indeed, LinkedIn, and random companies' careers pages for maintenance postings asking for someone who can do just about
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    everything: troubleshooting, controls, service work, installs, code knowledge, machinery, everything. Things that, even as a JW electrician, I'd expect to
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    come with additional training or a much better package. And then the pay is something like $21/hr.
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    So I send in an application, and they get excited because my credentials cover a lot of what they're asking for, and we go through the whole interview
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    Smiling man in a hard hat and blue work jacket standing in a workshop with tools behind him
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    hassle. And when they send an offer, I turn it down and tell them they need to at least double the wage and benefits, or raise them significantly, if they want qualified people to even consider it.
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    Honestly, I can't even blame you. The number of companies expecting expert-level skills for low wages is getting ridiculous.
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    So far it's mostly been annoyed hiring managers and a few irritated HR emails.
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    Smiling worker in an orange hard hat and blue uniform holding a large wrench in a tool-lined workshop.
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    owaikeia We all have our hobbies, and I genuinely approve of this. Keep up the good work!
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    Purple-Lie-354 Not all heroes wear capes. Union wages should be the norm, not an outlier. Living wages, not survival wages. I like his overall plan.
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    bagofwisdom I ain't even in a union anymore and I'm 100% behind you.
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    PostNasalLeakage This is awesome. As a Union member, different trade, I whole heartedly support this.
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    Ok_Comfortable589 your doing gods work
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    woodenblinds nice. we need more of this

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