Hiring open-shop journeymen in a union-heavy market

An open-shop contractor hires well in a union-heavy market by competing on the whole package, not the hourly rate alone: a rate close to the local market, benefits written down, a real apprenticeship and steady work. Nationally, open shop is most of the trade. BLS counts 11.1% of construction workers as union members in 2025, and IEC, the open-shop trade group, puts merit shop firms at 81% of electrical contracting businesses. But national numbers don't help much if the big jobs in your town are signatory.

01What do the numbers say about union and open shop?

Most electrical contractors and most construction workers are open shop, but the mix changes a lot by market and by job size.

Read these with care. The BLS figure covers all of construction, not just electricians, and BLS notes the 2025 numbers are 11-month averages that leave out October. The IEC figures come from the open-shop side's own study.

None of it changes your local problem. If the big industrial and public jobs near you are going to signatory contractors, the hands want to be where the long work is. For the wider hiring picture, see the 2026 electrician shortage numbers.

02What one contractor ran into

One national electrical contractor told us that many of the big jobs coming up in their area were union jobs, and that a lot of the hands they reached weren't union.

We don't know each man's story, and you won't either until you ask about the work. The lesson for an open-shop shop: in a market like that, the open-shop hands are a smaller pool, and every open-shop contractor in town is calling the same men.

03How a union package compares to an open-shop rate

Compare the whole package, because that's what a hand weighing both sides does.

A union journeyman's check doesn't show everything his employer pays. Take IBEW Local 48 in the Portland, Oregon area. Its 2026 wage page lists the commercial-industrial journey-level electrician at:

• $65.50 an hour gross wages
• $33.24 an hour in employer fringe benefits
• $95.79 an hour total package, per the local's page (after $2.95 an hour in dues)

For context, the BLS median for all electricians in Oregon was $48.71 an hour (OEWS, May 2025). That's straight-time wages only, and it includes apprentices and both union and open shop, so it isn't an open-shop rate. It just shows the gap a hand may see between a published union package and the middle of the market.

What that means for you: if your rate is below the local wage and your benefits are vague, a hand who can get on a signatory job will. If your rate is close and you can show health, retirement and steady work in writing, you're in the game. Our guide on how much to pay a journeyman walks through setting the number.

04How open-shop contractors compete for hands

The open-shop shops that hire well in union-heavy markets usually win on four things.

1. A rate close to the market, posted. Not "competitive pay" or DOE. A number, and how it moves.
2. Benefits written down. One IEC member contractor wrote that it pays at least 50% of any medical plan an employee picks, even family coverage, and matches 3% in a SIMPLE IRA after two years. Put your version in the ad.
3. A real apprenticeship. IEC's apprenticeship runs about four years with 576 classroom hours and at least 8,000 hours on the job, at more than 70 training locations. ABC chapters run open-shop programs too, and you can register your own through the Department of Labor. See how to start a registered electrical apprenticeship.
4. Steady work with a next job. Every job ends, union or open shop. If you can show months of backlog and what's next, that's worth a lot to a hand with a family.

The same contractor has a line worth repeating to your foremen: people stay "even if the hourly pay rate is not as high as other companies" when they feel the company invests in training them. It says its turnover fell from 114% in 2014 to 15% in 2021.

05When calling the hall makes sense

If you're a signatory contractor, the hall is your source of hands; if you're not, it isn't an option for you.

Under an inside agreement, the union is usually the source of referral for the signatory employer. IBEW Local 11's 2023 to 2026 Inside Wiremen's Agreement in Los Angeles says "The Union shall be the sole and exclusive source of referral of applicants for employment," and that "The Employer shall have the right to reject any applicant." IBEW Local 302's contractor page says a hand who isn't a good fit can go back to the hall and "a new person will be sent in their place."

Hiring halls also can't play favorites by membership. The NLRB says "You don't have to be a union member to use a hiring hall," and a union "may not discriminate in making referrals based on whether or not you are a union member."

Whether to sign is a business decision bigger than one job. If you're weighing it, talk to the local and to contractors on both sides. This post doesn't take a side.

06What happens when the hall can't fill a call?

Under many agreements, the signatory contractor can hire on its own for a while, and those hires come from the same pool you're recruiting from.

Local 11's agreement is a clear example. If the list is exhausted and the local can't refer applicants within 48 hours of the request (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays excepted), "the Employer shall be free to secure applicants without using the Referral procedure." Those hires are "temporary employees" and are replaced once registered applicants are available. Other locals' agreements differ, so read the one in your area.

Two takeaways for an open-shop shop:

• In a busy year, signatory contractors may be calling the same open-shop hands you are.
• Those temporary hires can be replaced once the hall has hands. A man who's been through that may want something steadier. Be the call he gets.

07Hiring hands who left the union

You can hire a journeyman who used to be in the union, and you can't hold his union history against him either way.

The National Labor Relations Act makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate "in regard to hire" to "encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization" (Section 8(a)(3)). In practice:

• Don't ask about union membership in the interview or the application. Ask about the work.
• Do ask about the training. A hand who topped out of a JATC apprenticeship went through a structured program, and that's worth knowing. Ask what work he ran and with what crews.
• Respect his choice. Some hands left the hall for steadier work, some for home, some because of a local market. Whatever his reason, it's his business, and his card status with his local is between him and his local.
• Watch your ad language. In an open-shop ad, skip union words like scale or the hall. Say what you pay and what the work is.

Never dig at the hall in an ad, an interview or on the job. Plenty of good open-shop hands came from the union, and plenty of union hands came from open shops. A foreman who runs down either side runs off good men. Our journeyman interview questions keep the interview on the work.

08Where to find open-shop hands in a union-heavy market

Go where the open-shop hands already are, and go before you need them.

1. IEC and ABC chapter apprentice lists. Graduating apprentices and their instructors know who's good.
2. Your own crew's buddies. Ask every hand for names. Referrals beat ads in a small pool.
3. Neighboring markets. Hands in nearby open-shop-heavy areas may travel for steady work, if the license moves. Plan the lead time in your manpower plan.
4. Hands coming off big jobs. When a long job winds down, the hands on it want the next one.
5. The ad itself. Rate, hours, benefits, how long the work runs, home every night if it's true.

Our guide on where to find journeyman electricians covers every channel and what each costs.

If you're short-handed now, apply here and we'll see if we can put 5 licensed electricians in front of you in 14 days.

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