There are many examples of union work rules that did not lead to productive use of maintenance resources! Take changing a pump for example, it requires a minimum of three unions to be involved, electricians, pipefitters and millrights. In reality, the people does it really take to do that job?
There are many more examples but especially in the maintenance crafts each union tries to protect their niche and really is concerned about lowering costs and raising productivity. :furious: This is especially true in the Chicago area but also could be seen in many other Northeastern and Midwestern areas.
Did you know in the State of Washington, its illegal for anyone in a commercial setting to do anyform of Electrical work of anykind without either being licensed, or having a Licensed Electrician oversee the work being done? That holds true on a maintenance team as well.
Did you know a Plumber isn't allowed to connect the three wires that go into an Electric Water Heater, despite having adapters that plug into each other? And it has nothing to dow ith being union, it has to do with who's licensed to do what.
Same mentality can be taken into the medical sector. You're not going to have a gynocologist conduct chemo therapy for cancer in the female genitals. Nor will you have a Gynocologist do a Prostate Exam, without a Proctologist overseeing the gynocologists work.
Nor will you have an EKG Technician doing MRIs, or an X-Ray Technician doing EKGs.
If you're not licensed to do the work, guess what? You're not licensed to do it, therefore, you're not legal to do the work unless properly supervised by the person who has the license.
REason you have a Plumber involved, is because a Plumbers job and licensure is installing fuel lines. Anyform of gas or fluid piping, is done by a Plumber. Anything that has to do with high pressure or high temperature steam, falls onto a pipefitter.
The Millwrights job, is to assemble and/or repair Mechanical components or machines. Which an Electrician would not be qualified, or educated enough to do. Nor would a Plumber.
It's why on a Maintenance Team, a typical Maintenance TEam, you will have: Carpenter, Electrician, Plumber, HVAC-R Technician, Pipefitter/Steamfitter, Equipment Operation and Landscaper. Those are the primary slots you'll typically see on a maintenance team, and then any low level personelle that help/support them doing their work.
Every member of the maintenance team will have a basic understanding and knowledge of all tasks, conditions, and types of work and products each member of the maintenance team specializes in, so everyone can do everyones job on the basic level, to allow SMEs to focus on the more in-depth work towards their trade. Saves time, money, and increases production.
And it allows the Team to do all tasks, because they have someone who has the required license to inspect/oversee work being done. Making that work legal.
Unions have absolutely nothing to do with it, state legislature does, because teh STATE wants to see a LICENSE to do the work. Why? Because they want to know who's going to sue who and who's liable to pay for damages being done.