state plumbing board requires X amount of continuing education per year in order to hold my licenses/endorsements current. 8 hours today, tomorrow, 10 Wednesday, and 6 Friday.
32 fucking hours for my license. Just this week.
Next month i have another 28. Get to sit and listen to a room full of grizzled plumbers bellyache about the state of current plumbing. Much like i am doing right now, here, i suppose.
Best part? Im paying for all of it on my own. $2400 this week, $1800 next month.
And ill be doing it again in 2024, 2025, and so on.
It wasnt this expensive two years ago. Or even last year.
What the fuck.
IS there any guild or union block that could put on the trainings? Who is charging you out the nose? Our union makes it our employer's responsibility to provide us with paid training to keep our licensure current and it is incorporated in our schedule.
E: read your comment. Sounds like you all need to bloc up and get a guy on the statewide board who can sign off on whoever your most bookish guy being allowed to provide trainings. Maybe guy is you?
Has to be an ‘approved’ instructor. Im not sure what req’s are for being approved. Id have to do some looking into it. I heard late into my class last night that a fair bit of my CPE/endorsement class fees will be changing, for next year. Apparently a house bill in the Tx Legislature is giving us some good options. The plan is to allow all the endorsements (certain apprentice endorsements, my medgas, fire sprinkler certs and a couple others) xto evetually be renewed for free. Unfortunately now my medgas expires yearly, instead of every three years now, but the plan is to allow me to renew for free yearly instead of paid every three year. My yearly CPE medgas class will eventually become free, but the state board is still working out details. There are some options for allowing manufacturer reps to come in, and basically ‘train’ us on how to use new products, which will allow us to get our CPE reqs. I have some options now for taking CPR/First Aid certs which can count as CPE, once the house bill goes into effect.
Im required to have 48 hrs of CPE yearly. Since i live in the ass end of the state, away from most population centers we just have to pay someone to come here to give the classes currently. The state intends to open more testing/CPE locations, but again, still working out details.
Unfortunately im non union. We have union in the state but no local representation here. Where i am in the state is quite hostile to the word ‘union’. My last employer was a really small shop, i was one of three service plumbers, and the only one with a sprinkler endorsement and medgas endorsement and i got pretty much run out on a rail when i told the owner id get his shop unionized. I ended up walking not to long after i told him that.
My plan is to ride out the remainder of rhe slow season where i am, because i got a honey of a pay deal. Im hourly, with a daily pay minimum, plus comission on any job i sell over 2.5k. Thats not normal for where i am. I am friends still with the guy who got me into plumbing years ago who is now a code inspector, and he’s already put a bug in someones ear about hiring me on after work picks up in February. I dont wanna count my chickens yet, so im still pretending like ill be where i am come February. Its my understanding that that place bears the cost burden of paying for all my endorsements, classes etc, which is industry standard usually. Im just in a small town and shit tends to work different in backwaters like where i am. Hopefully on to bigger and better.
Edit - jesus christ that was a lot of rambling. Im really sorry abaout that.
It's nothing to apologize for! Putting so much effort into cataloguing your struggles has given me a window into rural trades I ain't had before. That's really valuable!