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The original was posted on /r/electricians by /u/therealladysparky on 2024-01-23 14:46:04+00:00.
I'm a 5th year IBEW apprentice, set to top out in June. The jobsite I'm on is less than ideal, and has OSHA called out a few times recently. My local doesn't let apprentices drag, but we have the right to refuse to work if we deem it unsafe. The thing is, refusing to work doesn't go over well if you're the only one doing it.
My contractor does try to do everything safely, but it's the surrounding contractors causing an unsafe environment, as well as the gc letting them get away with it. We're talking we try to open doors for ventilation because all the welding fumes and diesel exhaust are making people sick, and they close them and inform us it's just water vapor. (They have air monitors. It only really covers CO and nothing else, so the air is "clean.") I have lung issues thanks to COVID, so I have been making a scene about it, but at this point nobody cares.
The gc is also from Texas. The job is in a northern state that's seen much winter weather. They don't seem to plan ahead for plowing and salting the parking lot because every morning we're either plowing our own paths with our vehicles to get in, or, in the case of this morning, eating it when we slip on black ice trying to get into the building.
My hall knows all of this. But, unlike all the jw's who've gotten fed up, I can't drag. I want to, but I'd have to see the committee. Or I can get a doctors note, which will probably follow me the rest of my career, and get pulled off for medical reasons. I'm also "not allowed" to ask for a layoff that my contractor probably would Gove anyway because they're from out of Local and I'm the only local apprentice for my contractor.
So, how would you deal with this? Because I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Editing to add: I was given the impression that the committee wouldn't go in my favor.