Why I am Union

In 1986 I had a choice, stay with delivering Pizzas or go to work for the company that my future Father-in-law worked for doing drywall, even though I had no idea what a Drywall Taper was. Fortunately for me, I was hired as an apprentice. Twenty one years later I am still in the trade. Some people may hold the Construction Trades with little regard but I have found that there are many amazing craftsmen that do amazing things with drywall, paint and mud and take great pride in doing their jobs.

In twenty-one years working as a Drywall Taper I can tell you that, with out a doubt, the best thing I ever did was join the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 77 as an apprentice when I was 19. I developed skills that I feel are as valuable as a college education would have been. I have no regrets from entering the Construction trades. Why did I join the Union? Let me put it to you this way, in all this time I have never been with out Health Insurance for my family. That benefit alone should be reason enough to want to join a Union. If you add to that my employer paying into a pension plan for my retirement for over twenty years and knowing that I have someone, in the form of the Union, ready to stand up for my rights as a worker, those are just a few of the reasons to  explain why I am still a member of this Union. I can not understand why a worker would not want to at least look into what it is a Union can do for them.

“If I were a worker…the first thing I would do would be to join a Union.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

I could not agree more.

Brandt Goble

Member since 1986

Tim Wilburn (standing with cowboy hat)                                     Tim Wilburn (right)

WHY I AM UNION

            I was just out of high school, a manager at a local Burger King restaurant making $6.00 an hour and going no where fast. I heard about the painters union through a friend. I knew nothing about unions and I didn’t care what the union was, I just wanted a good paying job. A good paying job was just the beginning of what I was about to receive. I have made a good living and have been able to support my family for 26 years now. I have had excellent medical benefits for my family and I am eligible to retire if I want to when I reach the age of 52, thirteen years earlier than most conventional retirement plans.  

          The benefits of being in the union are not to be found in many or most of today’s industries, especially the construction industry. Numerous companies offer competitive wages but don’t have the benefit package’s that our families need, such as eye care, medical, and dental insurance. Very few of the non-union contractors offer a pension or 401K plan to their employees, which is a benefit that all Painters Local #77 union members participate in after approximately thirty years or 60,000 hours of service. There are many other benefits that I have received as a result of being union. Collective bargaining, apprenticeship, safety, upgrade training and having representation just to name a few.

There are many more reasons why I am a member of a labor union, but the better question is: Why aren’t you a union member?

Tim M. Wilburn

Member since 1981