Fully certified union electrician uses his free time to waste the time and money of companies trying to poach his expert team at lower wages: ‘It's getting ridiculous.'

• 01
  
  via Unsplash+ (Andrej Lišakov)

  _{^{An electrician tests a hovering outlet at a home that is under construction (stock).}}

• "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."

  -cool_fetters

• 02
  
  via Toolmash Expo

  _{^{A pair of an electrician's hands in workmen's gloves, testing faulty wiring (stock).}} 

• "To be clear, I'm not applying to rival non-union contractors. That's a clear line I won't cross.

  What I do is look on Indeed, LinkedIn, and random companies' careers pages for maintenance postings asking for someone who can do just about everything: troubleshooting, controls, service work, installs, code knowledge, machinery, everything. Things that, even as a JW electrician, I'd expect to come with additional training or a much better package. And then the pay is something like $21/hr."

  -cool_fetters

• 03
  
  via Unsplash+ (Raze Solar)

  _{^{An electrician with a backwards hat and a hi-vis shirt works on an electrical box outside of someone's home (stock).}} 

• 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 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.

  
  -cool_fetters

• Sure, lowballing and highballing (is that a word? I'm going with yes…) can go both ways, right? So a tradesman can try to scam you into paying more and a customer can try to get something expensive for cheap. But that's when a union steps in. This electrician was in the union and knew the rules. So instead of doing the paperwork and getting that client blacklisted or fined or whatever happens (if anything), he took his own path of revenge and we loved it. 

• 04
  
  via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

  _{^{A blue-collar tradesman wearing a hard hat and hi-vis vest talks on a cellphone while smiling (model).}}

• "Honestly, I can't even blame you. The number of companies expecting expert-level skills for low wages is getting ridiculous… So far, it's mostly been annoyed hiring managers and a few irritated HR emails."

  -cool_fetters

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