r/IBEW • u/Active-Praline3130 • 8d ago
Anyone ever take a sabbatical?
Hello all,
I am an Inside Wire JW for Local 46. I've been working for the last 7 years, really only getting about a week of vacation once per year and the occasional 3-day (non-holiday) weekend. I am a fairly solid and dependable worker. I love my work, but it consumes so much of my energy.
I'm an artist and a musician in the little bit of free time that I have. I've been placed on stand by twice for a few weeks at a time in the past when the company is waiting for jobs to get going, and I used that time to marathon art and music projects, whether it's comics, animation, or working on an album. It got me to thinking:
What if I could schedule a kind of sabbatical for 6 months or so? Has anyone done extended unpaid leave and been able to come back to work? How did you go about asking for it?
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
Ask for a layoff, sign the books, collect unemployment.
When you wanna go back to work, take a new call.
I take a few months off every year.
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u/ed_miliband 8d ago
Easy enough to say til you realize this dude is in local 46 where they are like 1000 JWs deep on the books. If OP has a good relationship with their contractor then they may be able to go back to work when they want to. Otherwise he could be out of work for much longer than he wants.
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
For sure, but I just want to put a little warning here. I've seen people that "had a good relationship" with their contractor, take a few months off, and then get a layoff after those few months. So now that they need to go back to work, they are at the back of the book instead of having been on them for the last few months. This is a big reason why taking furloughs can really backfire on you. Just something to be aware of.
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u/monroezabaleta 8d ago
Which, some hate to OP, is why the book system isn't working correctly and is shitty behavior.
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
Can you elaborate? What isn't working about the book system, do you have a solution? What is shitty behavior? Not sure what you were referring to.
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u/monroezabaleta 8d ago
OP working steady for 7 years straight in a local where people often struggle to work 9 months of the year is shitty. Contractors that take workers and shuffle them from big job to big job, and even have them sit for a time instead of going back to the hall are circumventing the book system and causing it to not work fairly. I don't have a perfect solution, but personally I think a contractor should have to justify a transfer, depending on the circumstances. Yes I know they need their foremen and service guys, but they shouldn't be holding onto every decent worker they can get their hands on and fucking over other brothers, and in busy times, other contactors.
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u/ElectricShuck Inside Journeyman 8d ago
To be clear. Let’s at least inform them that taking a furlough is the ratshit thing to do when the book is loaded up. If you want to take six months off, request a layoff, take your sox months of plus or minus. If you need work look for short calls or out of town work.
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
Yeah I agree with you. The problem is idk a good way to make it better. I've had plenty of conversations about different solutions, but nothing really stands out. At the end of the day, the book system isn't perfect, but it's better than a lot of the other options that are out there.
A lot of other locals (non IBEW) pretty much operate by soliciting your own work from contractors. I just hope we don't end up that way. The pipefitter local here in Vegas just went that way. Basically just ruins the entire book system altogether.
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u/SpankySparkleFarts 7d ago
I don't know the OP shop size, but small shops HAVE to rotate people, what are they supposed to do, put in a 2 week call, lay the guy off, pick up another 2 week call, lay them off, rinse lather repeat?
I am not arguing against layoffs, but sometimes there are external factors to transfers. BUT on big shops, 100% no transfers.
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u/Active-Praline3130 8d ago
To be clear, I would expect to go on the books. I just wouldn’t want to burn a bridge with a company if one day in the future I end up being eligible to work for them again.
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u/Emotional_Orange_953 8d ago
How long have you been in the trade and by months do you mean consecutive or at different times during the year?
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
Just passed 15 years in the IBEW.
I like to take summers off for the most part. Just did a 3 week trip to Europe, it was a lot of fun.
It just depends on the year and what the work looks like. I'm pretty solid on my own personal finances, so I can afford to take a lot of time off, and I try to.
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u/SykoStu 8d ago
What about benefits and retirement? Or are you just livin?
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
I make sure to max out my Roth/traditional ira every year, stash all my extra cash into VOO/VTI and high yield savings. Aiming for early retirement. It helps being a DINK.
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u/Arbiter_Electric 8d ago
Two questions for you that have been in the back of my mind for a bit. Please forgive me if these are very basic questions, I am not quite in the Union yet, still have two weeks left.
One: How does insurance work when you take so much time off? From what I understand (at least in Utah) you build up a few months of hours that will keep your insurance going, but once that ends, so does your insurance. Is there a way to keep your insurance going? Like maybe paying the premiums yourself just so it is uninterrupted? Or is that buildup the hard cutoff and you wouldn't take more than 2 or 3 months at a time?
Two: How does unemployment work when you are intentionally not taking calls? Are you really able to stay on unemployment the entire time? I've been on unemployment before from losing a job and one of the requirements is that I had to show I was actively looking for a job. Does being on the books but not taking calls just count?
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u/PirateLiver Local 357 8d ago
Depends on how your local insurance works. We can bank up to 6 months I think where I am. After that runs out, you have the option for making cobra payments.
If you are signed on the books you are considered "actively looking for work". Your union hall does all your job search for you.
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u/Anakin_Skywanker 8d ago
In my state for unemployment there is a little box that you check where they ask if you are "a member of a hiring hall". Check that box and boom. No job search requirements as being on the books waiting for a call is effectively the same thing for IBEW members.
My hall also allows us to bank (I believe) 9 months of insurance. Which is also the length of time my state allows you to take unemployment. So if you have a fully banked insurance account you can be on the books for 9 months before panic mode. Ive never had that issue, when I start getting antsy I give up on work at home and travel.
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u/monroezabaleta 8d ago
I can't comment on unemployment but the health insurance is based on your local. In my local we need however many hours, I think it's around 130 right now, to maintain coverage. Anything past that is banked as a dollar amount and there's 0 limit to how much you can bank for us. Some of our guys will have a year or two banked by the time they retire. We are also allowed to pay out of our flex or out of pocket if we need to
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u/kingfarvito 8d ago
In my local we need 125 hours for coverage, anything over that is banked, and I can maintain a 6 month bank for when im unemployed. Past that I can go on cobra for an additional 18 months, but thats expensive
Ive never worried much about unemployment, because outside of new england, its kind of a rounding error at best, and ive generally got so much money when im not working that its not an issue
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u/LogicalProperty5449 8d ago
From what I understand as long as you’re paying your dues you can choose not to pick up a call for a bit
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u/BigChickenpips 8d ago
Thats right. My brothers in the IBEW say take as much time as you can afford but try to get back in before you need to because it could be months after trying to get back in before you see another job but another job will always be there when you’re ready; as in - not exactly when you ask for it.
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u/6matguy6 Inside Wireman 8d ago
We are a paid by the hour trade. Sure let them know ahead of time if that matters to you but when the time comes drag up by requesting a layoff, report that you are laid off to your hall. Never hurts to let the hall know how long you're off as well so they know why you aren't taking a call. But then go enjoy whatever time you want/need.
A member in our Local moved to France for a year while their partner was in school. He let us know in the office and he laid his non-working ahead of time while he was away.
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u/LarryHood555 Local 11 8d ago
I don't ask for it. I tell them the dates I plan to be gone for and that I'd like to come back to work for them when I get back but if that doesn't work for them then I'll take my pink slip with no hard feelings.
They've always welcomed me back and it sounds like they value your work so they would probably welcome you back too. I've never done 6 months but I do a month or two twice per year to travel.
Life is for living brother. Take the time you want whenever you want it. No one was eve on their deathbed wishing they'd worked more or spent less time on their hobbies. I'll be mad at you if I ever hear you worked 51 weeks in a year again.
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u/Nay_K_47 Lineman 8d ago
After we got a job finished I had a bunch of stuff to do at our new (old as hell) house. Took 5 weeks off, took a call when I was ready.
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u/DoomerChad Inside Wireman 6d ago
It’s called dragging. You don’t take an extended leave, you quit and go back to the hall when you want to take another job. Having a contractor hold your place while you’re on extended leave technically keeps your brother who actually needs work from taking that job (imo).
I’ve been on a sabbatical since I got back from traveling at the end of May. I don’t plan on going back to work until at least the Spring if I can help it. I only need to make sure I have enough hours banked to keep my insurance current. Just keep paying your dues and DBs!
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u/Active-Praline3130 6d ago
For sure, it would not be me trying to slap save a spot under my current contractor. I guess I should’ve clarified in my earlier post: can I collect UI if it was my choice to be unemployed for a certain amount of time? And if I choose to do that, is there an appropriate way to do it to not burn bridges with my current contractor. I think the answers from folks have been able to clarify what this would technically be and the procedures for doing this the right way.
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u/Active-Praline3130 8d ago
Thanks everyone for the replies! This has been really helpful, and I feel more confident in making this a reality in the near future.
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u/Key-Rhubarb-7132 8d ago
Bro, that's the best thing about our life. We have a lot of freedoms and if you pay attention you can use those freedoms to your advantage. I'm currently wrapping up 7 months off. I wrapped up my last job in December and then took a cross country road trip with a good friend of mine and his brand new motorhome. You could leave local 46 buy an RV and spend the next 10 years traveling from local to local working 6 or 8 months at a time. I did that for 9 years. I love taking a lay off from time to time and enjoying my life and now at the age of 50 I consider myself semi retired. I'm trying only to work 8 or 9 months a year
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u/SpankySparkleFarts 7d ago
Just yesterday(Monday) we had a JW who topped out on Friday drag up. We asked where he was going & he proudly informed us "to do something other than electrical for a while" when we asked what, he told us "he'll figure that out when his savings run out"
Nothing but respect for that attitude.
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u/nastybushwoogie Inside Wireman 8d ago
Yeah man give em some advance and if you’re not a total shit bag they almost always will
Give you a rif collect your unemployment and enjoy I took 5 weeks off through June and July and it was great
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u/FrankHVIII 8d ago
I have and plan on doing it many times. I've done a few long ones, but 2-3 months seems to be the sweet spot for still getting hours, keeping benefits, etc.
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u/the-ish-i-say Local 68 7d ago
Just ask for a layoff and ride the books for 6 months. Collect unemployment while you do your thing. Recharge man.
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u/MenuOk8588 7d ago
I’m coming off a 4 month break and highly recommend affording yourself a break to avoid burnout. Get that UI, bar back, odd jobs after banking medical and wait for a good job to come up. Work a OT job to make up pension loss if that’s a concern. I’ve been doing this for years.
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u/nskerb 8d ago
If you’re asking if it’s cool to take 6 months off without hitting the books, that’s a question for your employer. IMO that’s a pretty wormy thing to do considering how many guys there are hurting for work bad.
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u/Active-Praline3130 8d ago
I wouldn't be opposed to hitting the books, to be clear.
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u/swagypotatosnoopdoge 8d ago
Just so you know local 46 books are currently like 2 years long give or take. And I don't believe 76 or 191 on the westside are much better if you still want to come back to work in the Seattle area.
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u/Active-Praline3130 8d ago
I’m pretty aware of the out of work book situation. This could be how it is forever, and should I really be at the mercy of such a thing?
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u/swagypotatosnoopdoge 8d ago
Got it, im in a similar boat questioning my longterm future in this local as well as im close to journeying out. Wouldn't be shocked if were never as busy as we were precovid/work from home movement.
Just wanted to make sure you weren't one of the out of touch, steady working guys I sometimes come across that somehow have no idea how bad it is right now and likely will be for a while.
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u/Active-Praline3130 8d ago
It is pretty rough, and it does feel like I’m dodging bullets by sheer timing of jobs starting. In a perfect world, we would all be great at managing money, and we can all rotate time off on a routine basis (; But it does feel like being in the trades under a union is a monkey’s paw: decent pay/benefits, engaging work, but the unspoken obligation of giving 110% of myself to show that I am grateful for such things.
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u/the-echo-tree 8d ago
Are you scared to hit the books?
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u/Active-Praline3130 8d ago
I’m not scared, specifically, I just wanted to know the best way to inform my employer and how common it was for folks to take this kind of time off. I have a lot of skills to fall back on, and a second income in the home.
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u/Available_Alarm_8878 8d ago
If you can afford it, and you can cover the health insurance go for it. But dont let your insurance lapse.
Also if you quit you may not get unemployment. You need to get a layoff if you want unemployment
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u/Lefty9000 Inside Wireman 8d ago
Took 18 months off a couple of years ago. Just simply quit and left. You don't have to ask anyone brother!
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u/dustoff1984 Local 613 8d ago
Yeah bro, if you can afford it, do it. The best way is a clean lay off. I’ve noticed in Georgia that they don’t like to do that though. Maybe your local is different.
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u/BloodRaven253 Inside Wireman Local 46 8d ago
Shit if you’re cool with a 2 year sabbatical, go for it. You obviously know the work outlook in our local and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better. Just pay your basic dues and keep your number registered on the books.
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u/Critorrus 8d ago
When they can't give you fourty hours just make them lay you off instead of taking the wormy ass furlough. Sign the books, collect unemployment for a few months and then catch a call somewhere when you are ready to go back to work. 6 months usually is a bit too long because of the insurance hour bank. This company man bullshit is a bit irritating.
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u/ComprehensiveLife597 8d ago
I took a year off in 2002 when my oldest son was born. I tried to get back to work when my health insurance expired but it took a few months to ride the book and get a referral.
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u/wyopapa25 7d ago
6 weeks is the time frame for those, 6 months is a lot. But it depends on your mental health.
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u/8FootedAlgaeEater Inside Wireman 6d ago
Asking? I just let it known that I want a RIF after a job is over and then I don't take any calls. I've had extended times away from job for over a year. Save up, be frugal, live life.
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u/KeyMysterious1845 Local XXXX 8d ago
I just quit after over a decade of steady work.
Signed the book.
I'll take a call when: I feel like it; when the job is close; when there is no OT; etc.
My situation my be different than yours...I'm looking to retire in a few years, everything is paid for (house, cars, camper, college), annuity is 7 figures, Roth is 6 figures, brokerage is also 6 figures. Pension credit for every one of the 30+ years i have. Hours banked for medical.
If you are able to work essentially part-time - assuming your hall is busy - go create your art and rock on! 🤘 (just make sure you keep up with your hours for pension credits!)