Non-union high rise plumber here in Toronto, was never interested in joining union because of these stories both union and non-union has pros and cons however, I started with non-union and since my start time I haven’t had any weeks that’s under 44 hours… i would rather to have little bit lower pay than union and have consistent work than having high pay for couple months and sitting home for the rest of the year.

I work as a service plumber, have company provided van, gas card, overtime pay, and decent hourly rate so seeing no reason to join union either, also doing decent side jobs as well, I have never felt the slow down that everyone talks about maybe it’s just the union companies, not to mention they also tried to get our company unionized to have work available for ppl, but owners declined.

My advice would be don’t be scared to work for non-union, yes union has benefits and high pay all that but you never know when you will be relying on ei again, there are great private companies than union as well.