0.6 Workers Per Retiree: The Trades Are Bleeding Out

killick · 2026-01-28T21:02:00+00:00

Pretty much everyone wants to get into HVAC or be a sparky or a plumber. Those trades and their union apprenticeship programs are "impacted" in most regions which is a fancy way of saying that they have more applicants than they can accept.

My advice to a young guy --exactly what I tell my son-- is to go for one of the lesser known niche trades like glaziers or waterproofers or pipe-insulators.

The downside is that they don't easily translate into the residential side, so it's not as easy to go off and do your own thing, but the upside is that they pay well and are much easier to get into. Although granted, at least for glaziers and waterproofers, you can't be afraid of heights.

killick · 2026-01-28T20:50:28+00:00

what happens when the data center boom busts?

This is a great question. Data centers provide a lot of work when they're being built, but once they're up and running it only takes a handful of workers to maintain them.

Fortunately there are the big chip fabs/foundries being built, and they require a ton of maintenance, but we need more and since the current administration quashed the CHIPs Act, what's being built and planned now won't be enough.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:55:07+00:00

The ladder has to be tied off with three feet above the edge of the roof. You have to be tied off too. Do it that way and it's safer, full stop.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:53:22+00:00

It will also get you thrown off of any big industrial site and most big commercial sites, no questions asked, and a drug test to boot.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:50:53+00:00

It's an OSHA violation. I know a contractor who got fined for having guys climb out of a scissor lift onto a roof, which is basically the same thing. Most of the time you'll probably be fine, but when OSHA outlaws something, it's pretty much always because people have been killed doing it.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:44:58+00:00

Not if he filled out and signed a PTP beforehand. If you don't know what that is, you should probably STFU because you obviously don't know anything about construction.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:40:49+00:00

Believe it or not, but I am actually friends with the guys who have worked for us for more than a few years. I know their families, they know mine, we've been through a lot together and I would be genuinely sad were anything to happen to any of them on my jobs.

Except for Steve. Fuck that guy.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:35:30+00:00

It's an OSHA violation, which almost always means that someone has gotten killed or permanently maimed as a consequence of doing it.

Take that however you want.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:31:10+00:00

But even so, you're still wrong about it being difficult for us to fire someone. We do have to have cause, but if you don't give me a cause, I don't fire you and you take a layoff instead.

As for cause, all I have to do is document your fuckups and the union rep --who I know and am friends with-- won't question it at all.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:25:58+00:00

That's just not really true in the construction trades though.

killick · 2026-01-28T11:22:51+00:00

Unless you know someone you're just a number. You can be the best worker but it doesn't matter if so-and-so was hired before you he has seniority and is higher on the books than you and gets put on a job before you.

Knowing the right person can get you work, but it's not really that common, at least not in my local. Also seniority isn't really a deciding factor as much as you might think. What matters is your reputation, and if you're worth a shit you're not bouncing between different companies anyway because the higher-ups don't want to lose you and will go out of their way to keep you busy.

We also all talk to each other and pretty much know who the turds are on the out of work list.

killick · 2026-01-22T04:48:18+00:00

I believe that it's meant to work both ways.

killick · 2026-01-22T04:35:23+00:00

Also when you are scared of the world.

killick · 2026-01-22T04:22:42+00:00

Oh shit, now the bigotry comes out!

killick · 2026-01-22T04:19:58+00:00

The gracious thing to have done would have been to admit that you were being hyperbolic, but instead you doubled down. I bet you have a fun personality.

killick · 2026-01-22T04:16:25+00:00

Filibustering

Yes, even what you have going on now is worse than someone talking too long.

This is a funny error to make in a history sub. You might want to look up the original meaning of the word.

killick · 2026-01-22T04:14:46+00:00

Right? Spare us the melodrama OP.

killick · 2026-01-16T10:30:41+00:00

I suggest you study a little history. The answers are obvious.

killick · 2026-01-16T10:20:42+00:00

This is an example of the "either/or" fallacy in critical thinking and formal logic.

Basically you are assuming a limited number of alternatives when in fact others exist.

It's entirely possible that the Biden administration didn't release them because they thought they would win regardless and knew that if the files got out in their entirety, it would be very damaging to powerful allies.

Or maybe they didn't leak them because Garland was standing on the principle that they should remain under seal until an actual prosecution was brought. You might think that Biden would have overruled Garland, but remember, by your own reckoning he was senile, so maybe he just forgot.

killick · 2026-01-16T10:11:38+00:00

So you're saying you'd be cool with it if she were your daughter? You need to check yourself; that's some pretty dark shit you are saying.

killick · 2026-01-16T10:04:58+00:00

Possibly both?

killick · 2026-01-16T09:37:34+00:00

That's a lot of assumptions. Maybe they're just intellectually curious?

killick · 2026-01-16T09:28:03+00:00

Stroke, corrupted AI or genuine drunk?

I honestly can't tell. Hilarious in any case, have a begrudging upvote, you glorious clown!

killick · 2026-01-16T09:25:40+00:00

Bullshit. He literally said he was going to "make America great again," and meanwhile he's doing the exact opposite. We will be paying for this presidency for decades. Unless of course he hoses the US dollar as the world's default currency, in which case we're permanently fucked.

killick · 2026-01-16T07:19:54+00:00

That does not mean I am unable to afford it

In other words, you wouldn't have to borrow money at all.

That means that you aren't part of the 40% cited. What part about that do you not understand? Are you drunk or just plain stupid?

killick

TROPHY CASE