Featured:
Allergies
Grilling Guide
eHow Now Blog

What Is the Average Starting Pay for a Plumber Pipefitter Union Apprentice?

Pipefitters get their occupational name from work that requires measuring, cutting, bending and threading pipes and joining sections together. They typically work in industrial and power plants, where they assemble and repair pipes for high-pressure and low-pressure pipe systems needed for electricity generation, manufacturing, heating and cooling. Apprenticeships, which are frequently sponsored jointly by union locals and affiliated groups, typically require apprentices to work with experienced journeymen pipefitters for five years.

  1. Union Location

    • Apprentices receive pay from a training fund set up by the union, with salaries varying according to the union's geographic location. Although percentages differ, the average starting wage for first-year apprentices is 40 to 50 percent of the journeyman's wage plus benefits, according to United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada. Apprentices earn more as they increase their learning.

    Sample Salaries

    • The Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union No. 9 in Englishtown, New Jersey, reports that, as of July 2011, a journeyman pipefitter makes $42.39 hourly. In that location, the average starting pay for apprentices is 35 percent of the journeyman's wage, for an hourly wage of $14.83; the second year they earn 45 percent or $19.07 hourly; the third year, 55 percent or $23.31 hourly; the fourth year, 65 percent or $27.55; and the fifth year, 75 percent or $31.79.

      The Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local Union 286 in Austin, Texas, provides apprentice pipefitters with two pay adjustments annually during their apprenticeship. Apprentices make 55 percent of the journeyman's wage during their first year in training, and then the salary is adjusted every six months. According to the union, if the journeymen pipefitters make $25 per hour, at 55 percent of the wages, first-year apprentices make $13.75; for their first six months, second-year apprentices receive 60 percent or $15 hourly; for their second six months, second-year apprentices receive 65 percent or $16.25; third-year apprentices earn 70 percent for the first six months or $17.50 hourly; and so on until for their second six-months, fifth-year apprentices earn 95 percent or $23.75 hourly.

    Benefits

    • Apprentices receive benefits such as medical insurance, retirement plans and others, such as for educational development, typically based on their wage amount. Among benefits provided under United Association Local 26, covering western Washington State, both journeymen and apprentice pipefitters receive $8 per every working hour for medical-insurance premiums; for their state pension fund, a journeyman is provided $6.19 every working hour, while the union provides apprentices with $3.10. Both journeymen and apprentices receive a national pension of $2.86 and $1.43, respectively, per every working hour.

    Training

    • Apprenticeships require both on-the-job training and at least 144 hours of classroom instruction each year of the apprenticeship. In the classroom, apprentices learn "drafting and blueprint reading, mathematics, applied physics and chemistry, safety, and local plumbing codes and regulations," according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Apprentices first learn basic skills from the journeyman, such as identifying types of pipe and using tools; then they gradually learn to work with pipe and install various piping systems. Apprentices must be 18 years of age and have a high school degree or GED. Unions can provide information on other requirements.

Related Searches:

References

Resources

Comments

Related Ads

thumbnail
Featured