What are some jobs with union representation?
July 25, 2024 4:32 PM Subscribe
Job’s been shaky for a while, and I was laid off today. I would like my next job to have union representation. Thanks in advance for any suggestions re: my next career.
I deal with stress by overpreparing, so have a nest egg in place that will ensure that our family’s short and medium term finances will be fine while I figure out what is next. Lemonade, lemons, all that.
Going back to school for whatever the next job turns out to be is an option. You can assume I’m a pudgy but strong middle aged person who has had both white- and blue-collar jobs and who is open to both in the future as well.
Quality of health care and retirement plans rank much higher as selection criteria than the specific thing I end up doing next. It would be a plus if the job is doing something you can’t do from home or after-hours, but that’s not a hard requirement. Last gig just had bad work/life balance and I would like to improve on that if possible.
I deal with stress by overpreparing, so have a nest egg in place that will ensure that our family’s short and medium term finances will be fine while I figure out what is next. Lemonade, lemons, all that.
Going back to school for whatever the next job turns out to be is an option. You can assume I’m a pudgy but strong middle aged person who has had both white- and blue-collar jobs and who is open to both in the future as well.
Quality of health care and retirement plans rank much higher as selection criteria than the specific thing I end up doing next. It would be a plus if the job is doing something you can’t do from home or after-hours, but that’s not a hard requirement. Last gig just had bad work/life balance and I would like to improve on that if possible.
I switched to teaching in middle age, in a city with a strong union. There are lots of options for what to teach and what ages. I do kind of regret not exploring adult ed, which seems very interesting and perhaps not as stressful as elementary.
posted by Ollie at 4:50 PM on July 25, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by Ollie at 4:50 PM on July 25, 2024 [3 favorites]
Local government (city or county, maybe state) jobs are often unionized, at least for non-management positions, depending on the state. It may be worth looking at their job listings to see what kind of roles exist.
posted by lapis at 4:50 PM on July 25, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by lapis at 4:50 PM on July 25, 2024 [2 favorites]
In California, many jobs working for public schools are union jobs, not just teachers. Your district may vary, however, as a lot of places try to weasel out of union protection by making people contract employees. But there are a lot of choices of jobs in even a moderately-sized district, everything from payroll staff to IT to plumbers to classroom assistants. For any position that depends on school being in session, you won’t be able to do much in the way of after-hours work. And if you don’t see something that works for you in one district, try another, because some districts have in-house departments that others contract out. You just never know.
posted by corey flood at 4:50 PM on July 25, 2024 [4 favorites]
posted by corey flood at 4:50 PM on July 25, 2024 [4 favorites]
Many roles including Engineer are Union at Boeing in Seattle
posted by nickggully at 5:31 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by nickggully at 5:31 PM on July 25, 2024
Staff positions at universities and colleges may be unionized in WA.
posted by Juniper Toast at 5:33 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by Juniper Toast at 5:33 PM on July 25, 2024
Best answer: Goverment jobs can mean lots of things from hospital roles ( VA, and some state or university hospital jobs) to construction to accounting for a department of public health or postal service. It's really really really broad. What is unionized in your local area will vary pretty widely.
Your local union offices will have more specific roles and details. Searching around the internet for your city and looking for union contact agreements can get you an idea of what is unionized in your area and the specifics of each union including salaries.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:37 PM on July 25, 2024 [2 favorites]
Your local union offices will have more specific roles and details. Searching around the internet for your city and looking for union contact agreements can get you an idea of what is unionized in your area and the specifics of each union including salaries.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:37 PM on July 25, 2024 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for the great ideas so far; should have mentioned that I’m in the Seattle area in my post. Please don’t limit answers on that basis, though. Figure someone else in another region may look this question up in the future!
posted by FallibleHuman at 5:44 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by FallibleHuman at 5:44 PM on July 25, 2024
My husband works for the VA and they have a union. There are a ton of different jobs at the VA and it’s easy to move around once you’re in the system. Our health insurance is excellent and he has access to the TSP (government version of a 401k) and will get a pension when he retires.
posted by jabes at 5:47 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by jabes at 5:47 PM on July 25, 2024
Lots of jobs in the UC, CSU, and SUNY systems (academic jobs yes but also management and staff, including everything from IT to grounds workers).
posted by wintersweet at 6:17 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by wintersweet at 6:17 PM on July 25, 2024
I suspect that in Washington, as in Oregon, many or most of the traditional trades are unionized. Depending on your background, you might be competitive as an applicant to an apprenticeship. Certainly you could look up local union websites and learn about their apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are paid, and the unions should have that info on their websites.
posted by bluedaisy at 8:06 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by bluedaisy at 8:06 PM on July 25, 2024
I work for a state government and our union is great and seems very effective (an SEIU division). I worked at a university and the union didn't seem to be super effective but my tenure there intersected with the beginning of COVID when everyone (generally in the country, not for my union) was getting laid off. My main metric for their level of effectiveness is the COLAs they were able to negotiate... I don't know about job security but I assume they would be good for that as well. I worked for the Federal government at one point and I know it was very hard to fire anyone; I think it's the same at the State in my blue state.
There are many different jobs you could do in government.
posted by knownfossils at 8:09 PM on July 25, 2024
There are many different jobs you could do in government.
posted by knownfossils at 8:09 PM on July 25, 2024
Public sector jobs have much higher union density than private sector. May I recommend healthcare? Highly unionized on the west coast.
posted by latkes at 8:18 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by latkes at 8:18 PM on July 25, 2024
Nursing? It would require a fair bit of school, but opens a lot of options, many of which are union, especially on the west coast.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 8:25 PM on July 25, 2024
posted by Pantengliopoli at 8:25 PM on July 25, 2024
Best answer: I am a public transit bus driver in the Seattle area. It’s a career left turn for me, and I don’t want it to last forever, but there are much worse jobs. Pertinent to your question I have a strong union and an excellent public employee benefits package. Training was paid and provided after hiring, and did not require any further education. Now I have a CDL I could take elsewhere if I wanted to. Pay is … okayish at my agency, much better at King County Metro/Sound Transit/Community Transit. And seniority really stacks well, lots of people work till retirement and are pretty comfortable. If your primary goals are stability and sustainability, I would definitely look into it. MeMail me if you want to know more.
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 10:45 PM on July 25, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 10:45 PM on July 25, 2024 [3 favorites]
Oregon has strong healthcare unions and I think also universities there are unionized. It's one of the best places in the US to work as a nurse alongside California due to unions, good pay, and state laws about the ratio of patients per nurse. You can make a lot of money by combining shift differentials and opting to do overtime strategically. There are per diem or casual employment options that are good for easing into retirement by gradually working less than full time as your retirement budget allows.
The education needed to become a nurse is expensive, if you're interested in this, try to get an ADN and let your employer pay for your bachelor's degree later. If you are willing to work in a rural community there are opportunities for loan forgiveness. If you are willing to enter a hard to hire specialty (critical care, emerge) there might be hiring and retention bonuses.
posted by zdravo at 11:10 PM on July 25, 2024 [1 favorite]
The education needed to become a nurse is expensive, if you're interested in this, try to get an ADN and let your employer pay for your bachelor's degree later. If you are willing to work in a rural community there are opportunities for loan forgiveness. If you are willing to enter a hard to hire specialty (critical care, emerge) there might be hiring and retention bonuses.
posted by zdravo at 11:10 PM on July 25, 2024 [1 favorite]
nthing government jobs. I work in county government in the PNW and my union's pretty great (AFSCME). Not sure what your skillset/background is, but county government can cover anything from healthcare to social services to skilled trades to IT to admin support roles, almost all of which are represented positions. And as an IT person who spent years on the corporate treadmill, working as many hours as they would throw at me, I can tell you that as a represented employee, a guaranteed 5/40 (or 9/80 if I wanted it) maximum-by-contract schedule (any exception to that must be negotiated) is pretty damn fantastic.
Don't get me wrong; I work hard during my 40 hours, and I still learn new things and push myself. But I don't work more than that, I don't answer emails after hours, and I don't feel exhausted at the end of a week the way I used to.
So yeah; pursue jobs with King/Pierce/Snohomish or whatever county you're closest to. You won't regret it.
posted by pdb at 11:38 PM on July 25, 2024
Don't get me wrong; I work hard during my 40 hours, and I still learn new things and push myself. But I don't work more than that, I don't answer emails after hours, and I don't feel exhausted at the end of a week the way I used to.
So yeah; pursue jobs with King/Pierce/Snohomish or whatever county you're closest to. You won't regret it.
posted by pdb at 11:38 PM on July 25, 2024
Workers at some of the grocery chains in the Twin Cities, Minnesota are union represented by UFCW. Here's a handout from one of our UFCW locals with details.
(I used to be in this local...many years ago!)
Starting with union locals in an area, and seeing who they represent, could be another way to get info.
posted by gimonca at 6:33 AM on July 26, 2024
(I used to be in this local...many years ago!)
Starting with union locals in an area, and seeing who they represent, could be another way to get info.
posted by gimonca at 6:33 AM on July 26, 2024
Best answer: Echoing everyone else who is recommending a government job. I work in a very anti-union state, but until 15ish years ago pretty much all our staff in local government were in some sort of union. In Washington, I'm sure that will be the case. Governmentjobs.com is a great place to look for local government jobs.
posted by notjustthefish at 8:12 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by notjustthefish at 8:12 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
Since you're in Seattle-ish: UW is unionized.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:15 AM on July 26, 2024
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:15 AM on July 26, 2024
Best answer: USPS has many employees represented by various unions: Postal Unions.
posted by tuesdayschild at 9:55 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by tuesdayschild at 9:55 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm going to make another pitch for the trades as being a great way to find a job that has a lot of need and growth potential right now. There are many experienced, older tradespeople retiring, and these fields are doing some heavy recruiting of career switchers, including among people who are well into adulthood. I know a young person who just started a trade apprenticeship, and their cohort included people from a wide range of ages.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:45 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by bluedaisy at 11:45 AM on July 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
I live in NM. We need workers in many different fields, in many different agencies in state government. Most classified positions are represented by unions. We have a good public employee retirement system and retiree health benefits. The cost of living is low here.
posted by furtheryet at 12:13 PM on July 26, 2024
posted by furtheryet at 12:13 PM on July 26, 2024
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Based on the question I'm assuming you're in North America; in general, a government job (local, state, federal) is likely to be your best bet. Check your nearby cities and see what their human resources pages have for collective bargaining agreements and what they're hiring for; same for your state (department of transportation especially).
If you don't have a trades background, that's a long road -- getting into and then through school, and then doing your apprenticeship, and so on.
The other thing I'd put as a note of caution is that a union is only as strong as its contract enforcement. You can have a union that looks great on paper, but if every time management makes a move your union rep and/or stewards shrug, it's not not much of a union (more service model than organizer model). So "is a represented job" is not a criterion that's going to guarantee you a safer position.
Source: I'm a union steward and general organizer in a regional union, working for a city.
posted by curious nu at 4:49 PM on July 25, 2024 [11 favorites]