[Booger Welder]

Just my two cents, but what others has said on this subject is pretty much right on.

What you do not realize is that when you join the boilermakers union or the pipefitters union that you will be paid union scale.

What you do not understand is that they will send you all over the country and not just to the TVA. When you travel, $25 a hour is not a lot of money when you have to pay for your own food and lodging and expenses.

My brother is a welder for Siemens. He worked many years for other employers before he developed the skills to become such a proficient welder that someone was willing to hire him and pay him what he thought was a liveable wage.

Now he does make $25 a hour, but he is on salary. He makes $25 a hour at work or sitting at home, watching television. He also gets paid overtime - since most jobs you work a 12 hour day. There is no union.

At the same time, a person that is a steam turbine blade technician, who welds in Nuclear power plants, should make a heck of a lot more then $25 a hour.
The problem is - when you get in a power plant, and you are doing the same job as the pipe fitters, who are making close to $50 a hour, but has to pay for everything out of their own pocket.

That is all well and good, when it comes time to retire and you have a million dollars paid into your social security and you have a decent pension from the union. That is as long as Social Security makes it until you are ready to retire and does not run out of money.

The problem with Siemens, is that they only give about a 3% raise every year. By the time you have 30 years into the company and are ready to retire, you could still - on paper, be making the same amount of money as you were the day that you were hired, due to the fact that you cannot control the cost of living and inflation probably matches or goes beyond the 3% that you are given.

At the same time, Siemens is not in the business to just give away money.
They do not comment on all the good things that you did in the past year, they just bring up the things that were not done right. Those things, along with refusals to work is subtracted from your raise. So you quite possibly might not get the entire 3%!

Now granted, if you worked in a union shop and you made union scale and the employer gave you a .25 cent a hour raise every year, that is not 3%. So basically 3% to someone that is used to making $8.00 a hour and getting a .25 raise - is a lot of money.

But when you are away from home, 10 months out of the year, where do you have to spend it? Who raises your kids? who cuts your grass and takes care of your vehicles?
Who maintains your home? Who is screwing your wife while you are out busting your butt trying to make a living? How long will your wife and kids live without you being home - before they look for a better situation?

$25 A HOUR - EVEN 12 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK, IS NOT A LOT OF MONEY, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF SLEEPING IN YOUR OWN BED EVERY NIGHT.