On Thu, 19 May 2011 09:37:08 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:



****** Yes, regulations are all over the map. Up north, where almost
everything is unionized, I suspect that union influence drives a lot
of the requirement for licensed (that means UNION) electricians and
contractors....

Doesn't work that way. Unions have contracts with businesses, not
homeowners.
I've had licensed electricians put in new services, and licensed
plumbers and HVAC do plumbing and HVAC work in my homes.
None were union.
Don't have to be union to pull a permit, just need a license.
No need to belong to a union to get licensed, though that might be a
quicker path for training in some cases.
This in Chicago and a close suburb.
BTW, when I left the Navy, U.S. Steel wanted me to serve a 5 year
apprenticeship to sponsor me for a stationary engineers license.
They paid badly, even though I was member of the Steel workers,
so I passed and found a better job.
A bit later the Seafarers union wanted a long apprenticeship as a
wiper before sponsoring me for a fireman/watertender Coast Guard
license.
Long story short, I used my Navy experience to take the CG test and
got my license before I boarded a merchant ship - at better pay..
And later, stale as I was, used the same experience to take the
stationary engineer's test and get that license.
Never used that one, or the real estate license either, as the economy
got better and I found better work.
Bottom line for all these licenses is provable experience with a
business or equivalent military.
If the business is unionized, the union gets involved in setting up
training for licensing.
But any good business should do that, union or not.
You're in a different wold if you think everything up north is
unionized. Unions are almost dead.
Still make a good bogeyman though.

--Vic