We have union and non-union employees across multiple states.
The ignorance of many towards Unions is sad.
The corruption in some of the Unions is equally sad.
Some Unions get it. Some don't.
Just like employees.
> I'm a student trying to learn about the profession and from what I understand, union shops (in CA) have some restrictions on what a PLS can do. Reading this board, I get the impression that a lot of guys split time between the field and office and have the freedom to carry out all aspects of the work. Wondering how many here are union or non-union shops?
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> -Ben
You are correct! I would say most guys that post here have surveying in their blood, Opposed to union surveyors that think of it as more of a job. I came up through the operating engineer’s joint apprentice program and my regret is that I did not move into the office earlier in my career. I had a friend that started surveying for a one man shop about the same time I started with the union. He got to go do the research, calc it, survey it, plat it, and collect for services all in a day’s work. I on the other hand basically only did the field portion of the work and then managed the field crews which typically were between 5-10 crews. So the point being, the work was much more specialized in the union shops. Draftsman/cad operator, print room boy, researcher, description writer, field crew.... This was done to produce volumes of work such as 1800 lot subdivisions with traffic corridors. I too have surveying running in my blood and have a general interest in all aspects of surveying so I have adapted to the office portion later in life. I also made a heck of a lot of money for most of my career compared to my buddy that went to work for the one man shop.
The apprenticeship classes are the strongest point of the union. When I managed union surveyors it was nice to be able to call the hall and receive a minimally trained man compared with when I managed non-union shop and had to use the neighbor kid that was off for the summer to hold the rod. Although there were some real doozies union surveyors, but you just paid them for show up and sent them on. Also the volume of guys you will work with and for is 10 fold in the union shops. Union or not I believe a cross section of workers is a cross section. Buy working with multiple people you can learn much more quickly. If I was a young guy again I would try go to work for a union shop for 3-5 years, then to an agency for 3-5 years and then on to my own after becoming licensed. But then again if state workers can continue to retire at close to 100% of their salary which is darn close if not more than private professionals salary in California I might just stay with the agency. My 2 cents, Jp
Most parts of the country don't have unionized surveyors. it was a foreign concept to me before coming to CA.
In the Operating Engineers, the LS at a union company who is not a union member is, by agreement, barred from doing any field work. How does that mesh with professional responsibility? It doesn't.
An LS who is identified as management can spend a limited number of hours in the field, I guess as a concession to professional responsibility.
But you can also be an LS who is a union member. An LS would be in the party chief classification with a slight advantage in pay over a non-licensed chief. When I was in Local 3 a little over 10 years ago, that difference was something like $33/hr vs. $32/hr. Not much reward for the extra work that it took to get the license, the extra knowledge, and the added ability to the company to be able to place a party chief in responsible charge.
Some have made the arrangement that they are in the field part time and in the office part time when the company one works for sees value in such an arrangement.