COME ON LITTLE SISTER GET OVER HERE

 Welcome back, iron Podcast. We got a great one today talking with Dylan Boyd out local 7 32 organized member and heard great things about the kid and he's got a great story to tell.

Spent some time on the non union side and he has a lot of, a lot of experience in both sides.

Brothers and sisters if you are struggling please please reach out your not in this alone and your story isn't finished yet.

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope that the new year bring lots of joy and happiness. for those of you that are in the un represented sector ask yourself  those questions and search out the true answers to the lies that you've heard. 

LET US KNOW WHAT YALL WANT TO HEAR MORE OF. AND LET US KNOW IF YOU WOILD LIKE TO COME ON AND SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US.

STAY SAFE WORK HARD AND LIVE WELL.

Transcript

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Welcome back, iron Podcast. We got a great one today talking with Dylan Boyd out local 7 32 organized member and heard great things about the kid and he's got a great story to tell. Spent some time on the non union side and he has done a lot of, a lot of experience in both sides. So we're anxious and excited to hear for you today. So welcome today. Thanks for coming on, John. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. I'll get us started. How did you find out about iron work? A funny, a funny story. I was I was actually in prison and the whole time that I was in there, I was in there with with a really close friend of mine. We've gotten very close concerned, my brother. And that's all he talked about. And he would get so excited about it and so animated about his stories. And and I had never even heard of an iron worker before this. And it was really hard for me to wrap my mind around. I come from a really small town in Idaho that it, they're just, there isn't much iron going on in, in in, aren't they all small towns in Idaho? pretty much read. Yeah. And I was in the asshole of my know And so he would tell me all these stories and I would get really into it, man, and I would just be able to visualize it. And it just became this this like almost this dream that I would live in when he would talk about it. And so I started to fantasize about it and it was my escape from where I was at even then. And I had never even, I had never even known what this thing was, but it was like my escape. And I would always just, we would wake up and I would dig in and and he was a union hire worker. And the union part of it was extremely hard for me to wrap my mind around. I couldn't get it, I couldn't understand it. I didn't know what an annuity was or a pension. I didn't know what those things were. And So when we got out together and lo and behold, we ended up in a a halfway house together. It's a federal supervised release place. You're able to work. And I was able to work and I made a deal with him that he was, he would always tell me, man, always tell me, dude, you are an iron worker. You don't understand you have the bravado the whole demeanor of an iron worker and you need to try it out. And so I kept my word man, and I gave it a shot, and I didn't even know what a harness was. I remember my first day they gave me this old chewed up, torn up, beat up harness, and I tried to put the. Backwards, try to put my hands to where the arms go. I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. And my buddy came over and he helped me get it on, and he's come on, just my little for school and puts the thing on me and got all these tools and I'm weighed down and I'm like, what the hell this is cool. I like this. This is cool shit, isn't it? Yeah, it was really cool, man. And I was ready to go and he took me up in a boom lift. We were we were working on a, now this is non-union. We were working on a a airplane hanger, and it was a really big one. And first time I had ever even been in the air. Now mind you, before this, all I had ever done was masonry, where you're on scaffold, you're next to a wall at all times. Just you're enclosed. And I never in my life had I ever been Exposed to just open ever in my life have I ever been in a situation like this. He came up he dropped me off, told me to get outta that boom, lift hook my Beamer up, And then he goes down, then he goes down, he fucking leaves me up there, he comes over to the other side of the whole of the apex of the building. And he's come on little sister, get over here. And I'm like, do fucking what? Come and get me right now. He wouldn't do it. And he, and I gotta, and, gotta believe this guy cuz he's, Les knows him. He's a different character. And so I Army crawled, literally army crawled and then seen everybody was looking at me and kinda, kinda got up a little bit and started tuning the iron and I felt this, when I got to him, I felt this kind of This sense of freedom or accomplishment. Just the, all these different feelings, and and it was something different for me, but that day I knew that and I was scared to death. I'll tell you what I had never felt like that kind of fear ever in my life. And you had your own personal, you had your own personal suction cup going on. Your asshole sucked something. Yeah. Took my to the Yeah, absolutely. And you, I don't know, suck. You're right down tight buddy. did too. I'll tell you what, and man, from that day forward, I just knew 100% that that this was for me. So carrying on through. Threw my career in this I'm working for them for about for about a year and a half or so. And my, my said best friend, he tells me he is Dylan we gotta talk. And and I'm like, okay, what's up, man? And he is look, he's you're doing great at this. He's you've took right to it. You're fucking, you're one of the best guys that this company has now, this is the non-union company. And now mind you, I wanna, I just wanna make it clear that due to family situations and not being able to travel due to the law my best friend had to do what he had to do to feed his family. Yeah. But he was like he was like, look, he's I think you're ready to, for the next step, man. He's you. This is what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. If this is what you're gonna do, then you need to take it to the next level. And I'm like, okay what's that? And he's join the fucking union. And I'm like, oh, wow. And I'm like okay, fuck. I've heard you talk about it, and we didn't talk about it at all through this time. As a matter of fact, the only time I ever heard of heard about it was aside from him was these, all these fucking lies, these these different things that, that this company would feed us. And I developed this like hate towards the union. And he had actually warned me like, man, when you're working for this company, they're gonna, they're gonna see all this different shit. But that was a long time ago. I forgot about all that. And at this time I'm fuck the union, fuck Les Pearson and fucking, all this different shit. That's a excuse right there. Yeah, I was warned about Les Pear directly. No, Les is with us today. That's Hi, Hey Liz. But welcome we, yeah. but I'm like, yeah, fucking, hey, so what do I, what, you know what what do I was like, I'll talk to him but I guess we'll see you, man. I'm I'm comfortable where I'm at. I'm fucking, I'm doing good. I'm making good money. Fucking blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he's no. You're. He's let me just give you, let just gimme a chance to introduce you to this guy. I'm like, okay, cool. Is it? And then he's I'm like where am I gonna meet him at? I'm not driving, I'm not driving a pello. No way. And he's no, he'll come. And I'm like, tell to buy dinner. I ain't doing it. He's so I'm thinking, ok, I'll get a free, I'll get a free, I'll get a free dinner out of this guy. Hell yeah. Tell him I need a shirt too. Son of a bitch. Yeah. So I meet with this mysterious dude and I hear all these stories about him when he's up on the iron and how fucking catty and crazy this motherfucker is. And they actually organized this whole thing where it was, we were gonna meet and talk. So I meet with this random guy and we start to talk and what he saying, he making no fucking sense to me. I'm like, no. This guy wants me to go from making, yeah, this guy wants me to go from making fucking, I think I, what was I making? Like 26, 27. You were making like 28 I believe. Yeah. 28. 20. Okay. So I, yeah, I was making 28. Cause I just got non-union side, isn't it? That's pretty good. It was pretty good. And and yeah, I'm like, this guy wants me to go from making fucking$28 an hour to fucking, what was it, like 18 or something like that? 19, what was it? 21? Yeah, 21. 21. And I'm like, and I'm like, fuck that. No way. And so my brother was like, fuck that. No you, you're not saying no right now. This thing. Call your wife, just call your wife. And I'm like, okay, I'll tell you what Les, we're gonna call my wife cuz she's fucking super smart, super good with numbers and things make sense to her. And so we call her, he breaks it all to sound to her. She's the opposite of an ironworker, is what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. Common sense goes a lot farther than one hole. And Yeah. Yeah, dude. And the thing is you can't get one over on her. You just, it's not gonna happen. Soles calls her and we're all there, we're talking and and she's on board with this thing, And I'm like, and I'm looking at these two, talking these numbers. And all I know is I'm about to take like a six,$7 pay cut And she get, I get, she hands the phone back to me and I'm like, Blakely, what? And she's no, Dylan, what are you talking about? How does this not make sense to you? And I'm like what the fuck, And I'm looking around and Les has this these papers, and he pushes'em to me. And I'm like, and I'm like, what? So I grabbed a pen and I'm like fuck, you know fucking clothes in your ass. Yeah. Through your watch is the best part. And I'm, yeah. And I'm like fuck, the happy wife, happy life. I guess I'm gonna go with this thing. So I fucking go for it. And I was to work like literally fucking Monday. And man, I tell you what, the day I walked onto the job site, it was like, God damn it. Apprentice. Get your fucking bags on. And I was like, okay. Yes sir. And it was, but I'll tell you what, dude, it was on break, dude, it, I met the whole crew and I felt so fucking comfortable. And just the way that these guys like carried themselves, it was a whole different, a whole nother level. The jobs that they talked about the brotherhood immediately, and I'm talking like day two. One of the guys, the job that I was on, I was gonna have to drive about, oh, I think it's about an hour and a half to get to work. It was a shutdown. And I'm talking day two. One of the guys that was there was like, Hey, look, I live fucking literally two miles down the road. You can just come and stay with me. I was like, what dude? Cool, man. Hell yeah. He didn't tell you the you'd have to put on the motion and stuff. When I got to the house Yeah put the lotion on you put the lotion on. She the house. I walk in and he's got this fucking wig and this lotion. I likeuh I'll though. But yeah, that was the beginning of that journey. I was gonna say, just to rewind back just a little bit, just to talk about like the, that you didn't really take a pay cut was like when I was talking to Blakely, it was just the, yeah. You were taking a cut on the wage, which is what a lot of people don't quite understand, is that yeah, you're gonna take a cut on the wage possibly, maybe you're getting a raise. It varies from, worker to worker and company to company. But you made up that wage just in your medical, dental and vision, just in your insurance. You made that wage up right there, let alone Oh, not only that, but dude, I'm talking. The way the contract is set up with the overtime, it immediately was making more money and it wasn't making sense that, that's the part that wasn't making sense to me was this. We were working fucking 80 hours of fucking week almost with that other, with that on unit company. And so sometimes it was like 70 or whatever. Yeah, it was, but when we were outta town, man, it was, you were working like every day almost. And and I didn't have a choice and I have videos of sun up to, sun down and and we were paying for our, for our own rooms and we weren't coming home. Like I didn't have a choice to come home. It was a sh and even when we weren't working, we would be so far away. Like I would be in Washington and they were like if we were working that night or that day they would pay like$35 into your room maybe. And we're so far away, you're not coming home on the weekend, so you're paying that whole week. You're paying the whole time. And as you guys know, when you're in the cities, prices go up on the weekends and there was nothing you could do about it. But yeah. And the insurance. I was paying like$700 just for my fucking insurance and it was, it, I was barely fucking making her life. But I thought that I was making it. I thought that I was making good money. I thought that I was somewhere good. I didn't realize what the fuck was actually out there. I didn't realize what the union was offering and all this different stuff. I was told all these lies about it. So what were some of the lies that you were told? Obviously, probably, oh man. Just what, do you remember some of the lies that you were told? Right off the bat. No freedom no work. You join this thing and you can never go back to work. Once you join it, you can't get out of it. All this this money that you have to pay them, I'm talking, it was like, they were like fucking, I think it was like$400 a week or some shit that I have to pay the union Dude. It was fucking nuts, dude. All just these big fucking not safe. They never said anything about going to college. It about going to school, going to school for it. They it was just so much man, and yeah, starve you out type shit. Now these were things that, like you were, that were trickling down from the company you was working for. Oh yeah. No. They were not you guys essentially, Not trickling down. The owner of this company would tell us this shit. Oh wow. There was no trick. But on flip side, on the flip side, you're paying for your own room when you're out of town. Oh, yeah. Don't have the option. You don't have the option to go home, No. You're paying$700 a month for your own insurance. Yeah. So basically it's like you're hearing all this bad shit about what the unions supposedly is about. And then, you hear this and you're like, you start to believe it. And then when you get it, like brought to your attention by, by Les or something, then it's holy shit. And then what, at what point was the light? Did it click as soon as you got over? Did you, over time, did you did it kind of dawn on you? Like maybe they were, man, how do I phrase that? Did it click in your brain? Oh, they were straight lying to me the whole time. Or did you just kinda, when did you realize they were full of shit? Yeah. Oh, no. Man, it it took that first paycheck for me to see first of all, when I paid my first months of dues when I joined and I paid my first months of dues, I asked all these questions to Les and our coordinator I don't know if I could say his name, I can say his name right? Our coordinator. Yeah. Buzz Brian Rigby, he's our president, which shout out to Les Pearson. Brian Buzz, Rigby and Jim Wonnacott, man and our office manager Savannah. Man, they have done so much for me, but Malcolm later. But when I asked all these questions and I paid my first months of dues and it was like$37 for a month, and I was like, hold up, let me pay the whole year. Let me pay a whole year. I was like I thought that the whole year was gonna be like a week or a month or something. And so that was the first time that I was like, that moment when when I paid that first month, I was wait, what? This doesn't make sense. This isn't what I believed for the last two years almost. And it all just started, it all just started clicking right then. And then I got that first paycheck dude, and like I said before I was on a shutdown and I didn't even know what the fuck double time was. I didn't know that existed. And yeah, dude, and I got that first paycheck and it was the most money I had ever made in my life. And I was like a what was I, less like a second period, third period apprentice. Yeah, we advanced you a little bit, I think, cuz all our apprentices started 70%. And I wanna say we started you at 75 or 80%. Yeah. And it was more money than I had ever made in my entire life. And at that moment, dude, I was just like, what the fuck? So then I start talking to these guys and I'm talking to Les more at this time now I've developed a relationship with Les and I'm talking to my best friend who still at this time can't travel and and I'm talking to him and I and I'm just like, dude and I'm talking to my wife and my dad who's never been in the union but has lots of friends that have been in the union. And my dad just builds homes. And I and all these things are starting to like, be clear to me and I'm developing this fucking, this anger towards that other company. And. It all just started to like dawn on me, like the influence, like the effect of an influence of a company. There's non-union that can make you believe something and you wholeheartedly believe that. And then you come and then you come to see the fucking, you come to your fucking senses and you see the light. And it fucking, it honestly just saddens me. It, it used to get fucking mad. I used to be fucking, I used to be mad about it and but now it's just it's like a sadness. And I just, and I'm like, fuck man, that sucks. That it's like that. It really sucks that I have friends or I know people that, still believe this shit. It really fucking sucks. I remember when you were in that angry mode, you were coming, oh fuck. And you were, we'd be talking about non-union and it'd be like, yeah, those fucking rats and da. And I'd be like, Dylan, don't forget where you come from, man. The only, I still have my the only difference between us and them is we got a contract. They don't, other than that, like you proved it yourself. You're all iron workers. Same shit. Yeah. We the truth, they're putting up buildings. They're not falling down just like we're putting up buildings and they're not falling down. The big difference is that now you have a contract and you're experiencing that and you were getting pissed off that you were missing out on that. You think about how many you were told that you'd be paying so many, so much in dues, but look at how much you paid in non-union dues. Oh fuck man. Crazy paid the expense of my family, paid the expense of my. Yeah. Yeah, exactly, man. Exactly. They're just not called dues. Paid the expense of my family. The time. That precious time, that you don't have Oh yeah. That's the life you can't get back. Right the time. Exactly. Exactly. How you, that first job you went on to being a shutdown. You were experiencing that contract in full force cuz you were getting time and a half that very first day on the job and you'd never experienced time and a half until you hit 40. Yeah, I was getting double time on that first job. Yeah. On that first day. On that first day, I was, we were doing, I mean we were doing really great hours and at this time I wasn't. Because we were doing a big slaughterhouse way far away from home. And I had, and like I said, I was far enough away that I couldn't go home on the weekend. And and we were working every day except for Sunday. And on that first day at that shutdown, I think we did 16 hours and I was making double time. That day blew mind. And it was just an amazing thing, I was like, holy shit. That's crazy. One, one of the questions I have, what was your, so you walk on that job first thing first as a what? Third period? Les, you said you, they you for, they brought you in as a third period? I think so, yeah. Yeah. So you walk on the job as a third period. What was your first like task? Did they take you up in. They take up in the man basket, take it out off, get out kinda thing. Yeah, no no, not at all. I'm kinda interested in the difference between the two right there. Yeah. Let's compare your first day and the non-union of how they set you up for success maybe, and then your first day and the on the union side and the differences between. Okay so I just wanna say this on that first, very first job with my brother that was part of the deal with that non-union company is, Hey, I want him with me. So I was only with him for about two weeks and then I was sent immediately, sent to Utah. And my first day on that non-union job, they handed me a set of prints and they said do you know, or they, no. They said, here's these prints. Go lay out the elevator. Shaf, do you know where the elevator shaft is? And I'm like, I don't know where the elevator shaft is. And they're like, okay, it's around the corner, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Over here there. Go lay it out. And I'm like, I, this is this is non-union. And I'm like, okay, I don't really know what I'm doing. And he says, it's 14 on center and fucking they're on their up. Go ahead, not cleared. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like okay, but what what do I need? And they're like, you need a fucking this and that. It's over here in this gang box that's over there on the other side of the building. Anyway, go handle that. And then he moved on to the next guy. So then I called my brother and I'm, it was kinda like he was bothered the fact that you, he needed to give you a, like a little more instruction than. Oh no, 100, 100%. And he didn't have time for me. Shut up kid. Get outta here kinda thing. Yeah he didn't have time. He absolutely didn't have time. And but not only that, but what gets me now looking back is it's a fucking elevator shaft. It was an elevator shaft. And so I call my brother and I'm like hey bro. What the fuck is layout? And he is oh fuck. He's what are you talking about? So I FaceTime him and I'm like, and I show him these prints and I'm like, it's an elevator shop. And he's holy fuck. So he lines me out through fucking FaceTime because there's nobody around. Everybody is on some type of thing. And so he lines me out through fucking FaceTime while he's working fucking 300 miles. And I handled it. We got it done. But so then my first, I go, so then fast forward first day on the job on a union job with my, I'm with my foreman and let's see. Oh, what were we doing? We were I had to cut these cut these I beams down and we were welding'em up to extend a pedestal type for this big duct. So this is now union. This is fast forward two years. This is, yeah, this is now union. Fast forward two years. And it was actually two journeymen that I was with. The foreman lined us out. Hey, take the kid show him how to do this and make sure he's doing the welding and make sure he's doing the cutting. Line him out. So we got one guy on the ground. I'm in the lift with another guy. We get the measurements for exactly our elevation. He's showing me how to work this instrument. We come back down, he drops me off, he goes back up to continue on down and I'm cutting these these I beams. At this point I'd only used a torch a handful of times. And this other gentleman that I was working with is showing me exactly like where the gauges need to be for the thickness of steel. And he sends me this text message of this this picture of where your oxygen and your settling needs to be for thickness. And shows me how to use these different layout tools. I cut the beam. he helps me pack it over to the lift guy comes back down, we come up and oh, but I had to string out lead and all that shit. Set the welder tour where it was, we take it up, get it in place on this other I beam, we stub it up and the other gentleman asked me if I can weld. I said, yeah, but not so good. Says lemme see what you can do. Will you fucking weld it out? And that's, that was the two experiences of first day on the job non-union and first day on the job union, they asked you what you know versus just telling you, go in there and do it. Oh, not only that, but they sat there, right there next to me and made sure I was doing it right. Two of'em, two fucking journeymen. Really, in both section. Why you there such a difference? I think honestly, because of number one, because brotherhood, they actually want to show me and actually I've heard this. I got, I have to show you the right way because you're gonna be paying for me when I retire. We wanna make sure that you know what you need to know before we move on and move up. And another thing is just a love of your brother. Honestly. It's I want to show you the right way. I want you to know the right way. And to the pride in the job. The pride in the project. I don't think it's just a job for them. I think that it's more or less, or for us, I think it's more or less like we know that this building has to be here in 200 years, right? And there's gonna be people in this. And so that's like the mentality is this has to be done right? This has to be done safe. He has to make it home to his family tonight, and so does he. I like that. That's pretty neat right there. That last part said, never thought of it like that. That's interesting. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but an elevator shaft is pretty, you've gotta be pretty dead on this measurements and layout shape, correct? Yeah. Fuck. That's pretty pertinent. I honestly don't think I, even right now, I've I've laid out elevator shafts and I'm and I've never being union, I've never been by myself, not one fucking time. And and I'm not trying to toot my horn, but I've taken to this iron work pretty well. I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on and. I've always had at least one journeyman with me while I'm doing, while I'm doing them every time, stairs, fucking elevator shops, anything of that much importance and that much permanence still have never been by myself. And still I've always had somebody double checking my work and making sure it's right. That's, I think that kind of that old saying, fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you kind of thing. Or vice versa. Somewhere in Texas or somewhere in Texas or Tennessee, they got that old saying a little confused on those big jobs. it's a lot harder to make mistakes when you have two people or two sets of eyes looking at the same thing, and exactly double checking each other and not. Not double checking each other in a, Hey, you're screwed up, or you're an idiot, but double checking yourself so you don't have to come back and redo that. That's not, that's something that I think is overlooked and maybe there's a lot of working together. Yeah. Goes hand in hand with that. And, and I hold hard to believe in the buddy system. I don't think there's, there should be an iron worker on a job that's by himself, ever. Yep. Even though Kevin was a dick and I never wanted to work around him, I still work around him to make sure he wasn't say unsafe. Yeah that's interesting. One of the things that another one of the things I wanted touch on was something less explained to me about, was it 10 99 or something less? I can't remember. Yeah, he'd so I'm, I'll let Dylan kinda explain how he got in that situation. But he got in a situation where he He'd had some issues and had to be out of the apprenticeship for a while, and he ended up working for this contractor that he was setting machinery and stuff. He didn't know it was iron work at all, he didn't realize it was pertaining to our trade, but he'd already had the job at, he was talking to me, trying to, me and Brian getting his schedule, figuring out when he could come back in and get restarted and going like that. And we explained to him, dude, you're doing our trade. He's what? And then the organizer, Brian and me is let's work together. You're there. You didn't know. So let's work together on it. And, he, there's a thing that a lot of workers. Getting exploited with these days, and they're being led to believe that there's such thing as a 10 99 employee, and that is a complete lie. 10 99 employees do not exist. What a 10 99 is you're an independent contractor, so an independent contractor. You're being contracted by this company to do a said job, and this said job has to be done by this timeframe. Other than that, you're not a foreman of any of their guys. They aren't a foreman of you. You are there to do a certain job and have it done by a certain timeframe. How you get it done, it's up to you what hours you work is up to you as long as it's done by this certain time. And Dylan got put in a sticky situation and I'll let him go on from there on. What the heck all went transpired there? Okay. Yeah. Fast forward I'm I'm now in the apprenticeship program, continue on working, going to school. And I I go through this phase of depression and it really took a toll on me and I struggled with drugs. I'm in recovery now. However I relapsed and I felt pretty hard. And it got to a point where less and my president and my family and everybody was like, Hey, what the fuck? Something's going on. And so I talked to my federal supervisor and everybody. I talked to everybody and. And I had a pretty bad hiccup. And I made a major mistake and I ended up going to rehab and I was removed from the program. And when I was in rehab and I was told that I was removed from the program by by our president Buzz it broke my heart. It it took everything from me and I, and it really sucked. And I just, I didn't wanna let it go. And so I focused, I buckled down really hard in rehab and I knew that I wanted to change my life and I couldn't do this. I couldn't be fucked up on drugs. I knew that the union was where it was, where my li life belonged and. When I got out of rehab, I went straight. I'm talking the day after I got out, I went straight to the hall and I was speaking with Les and Jim Wonka, our BA and our office manager, my president coordinator. And I just went in there and just unloaded my heart on these guys and completely took ownership for what I had done. And was just, sorry, man. I fucking, I had fucked up and I fucked up something that I considered was gonna be, the rest was gonna be in my life and part of my life, the rest of my life. And we had all talked and they were like, look man we can't let you back in. We can, you can come here every Friday and you can basically. Show us like what you're going to, what, how bad do you want? This basically is what they were saying. How bad do you want this? Are you willing to be here every Friday and show us that you're gonna be sober and show us that you are serious about this? And if you are willing to do that, then show us. And I was like, I'm willing. Abso fucking lutely. I fucking will be here every Friday. And it was something we did. So on my way home from that meeting I passed by a job where they had a huge crane and obviously being an iron worker curiosity killed the cat. I pulled into that job site and went to, went straight to the first person I had seen which happened to be the owner of this company. Spoke English it was broken up, but he spoke English seemed very cool. I asked him what do you do? Who are you, what do you do? Told him who I was, told him my experience. And and he was like,$35 an hour. Yeah, he was like$35 an hour. And I was like, okay, but look, I gotta be clear about this. Can't hang no iron, can't do no precast, none of this shit, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He is okay,$35 an hour, 10 tens. And I'm like, oh fuck. Okay, cool. And he's can you be here tomorrow? Obviously. Yeah. So I go to work for these guys. None of them, none of'em speak English, but the company owner, and that's how it was. And these guys are really fucking cool guys, and I know, I, I know knew Yeah. Behind your back bud. Yeah. And actually they fucking, some of them dude, were they didn't like that I had known so much and had a really good idea how to use instruments and, all these different things. So I'm working and the guy comes, it's the end of the week and I'm waiting for this W2 to, or W2 or W four. What's the one? It's w2, right? W four. I think so. So I'm waiting for this W four and the other one, this company comes up and lends me there cash and I'm like, huh. San Wallet Cash. Yeah. And I had done, and I had done the math, at the end of the week and 10 tens is what we're working. So I do 70 hours or I do 40 hours. What's 10, 10, 10 on? Good question. Good question. It's a very, that is a valid question. What the fuck is a 10 10? That was part of our battle. That that's like that old caller ID thing or what? Whatever that 10, 10, 2 21, the number. So here I am,$35. A fucking an hour. 10 tens. Fuck yeah. I do the math. 40. I got 60 hours of fucking overtime. Hell yeah. But that's not what happened, So I count this money and I'm like, Hey, such and such. Hey, I think I'm. I think I'm really short. So I pull out my Google translation, and I got my calendar or my calculator, and I'm like I'm missing a considerable amount of money. And he's no it's 10 hours, 10 hours a day. 10 days. You worked 10 days. And he's with that you would've worked like 20 days. And I'm like, no, this is all over, all from here to here. It's overtime. And he is no. He's let me talk to my secretary. I have her call you. Later that night the secretary businesses. Yeah. Yeah. So the secretary calls me and she's hi, Dylan. So such and such said, you had some questions about about your your pay. And I'm like, yeah, first of all where's my where's my pay stub at? It's cool. I don't throw the bank, but where's my pay stub? And she's like, where's your what? And I'm like My, my pay stub, my where my out, where are my hours at? And she's I, we don't do that. And I'm like, okay, so here's the deal. I have to have a pay stub. I'm on federal supervision, and my supervisor is going to be asking for a pay stub like any day. And second of all, and second of all, where is my overtime at? And she's we don't do overtime. And I'm it's yeah. And I'm like I just worked all these hours. I was like, I didn't under, I didn't realize that was gonna be a deal. And she's lemme get back to you. So I'm like, okay. Cool. So they, one, one question real quick just to interrupt. So if you only work four hours, would they still pay you the 10 since they don't do overtime? No. No. So the 10 10 thing is 10 hours in a day for 10 days, and then they take three days off. Oh, okay, now I'm getting that. Yep. And or no, four days off, my dad, four days off. So then she gets back to me and she's Hey, I got it figured out. This is two days later now. And this is part of, this is on the four days off. So she's Hey, I gotta figure it out. Sorry for the mis sorry for the confusion. This is, so you're on a 10 99 and I'm like, I'm on a fucking, what? I remember my dad, building homes, he does the 10 99. And I'm like, this is odd. And I'm like, okay, so I need a W four, I need to fill it out for taxes. And she's no you're gonna do your taxes at the end of the year. And I'm like, what? I'm like, okay, this doesn't make any fucking sense to me. So then I I go in the next Friday and I'm making it really clear with these guys, I have to have every Friday off. No. If ands or what's about it? Every Friday I have to have off. So I go up to the hall and I'm sitting down with with Les. I'm like, Hey, I got a job, man, fucking work. Great money. They kinda fucked me on the overtime, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he's what do you mean they fucked you on the overtime? What's that? What, what's going on? And so I'm trying to explain this fucking thing to him. And he is and this is where it gets where something, next thing I know, he gets on his computer. He obviously sends an email and the next thing Buzz comes in and he is sitting here listening to this. And then Jim comes in and he is listening to this. And they don't say a word when they come in. They're just listening. So now I know something's up and Jim's. I can just picture Jim just looking at you his eyebrow. Like what? And yeah, And you know what's crazy is Buzz has this book out that's big as a Bible and now is over here clicking away. And he is got a book out and they're asking me these these direct questions that I have no idea what the fuck is going on at this point. And here you're in interrogation, I think I'm in fucking trouble, dude. I'm like, boy, I really fucked up. Cuz when I came in, Les was like, you're doing our work, you know that, right? You're doing iron work? And I'm like, no, I don't know. So now I think that these guys are asking me, que I'm fucking, I'm in trouble dude. I fucked this whole thing up. And and then they're veering completely away from the work and they're bu they're buckling down on this 10 99 thing in these hours and. Exactly what I'm doing and how I'm keeping track of my time. And they also this company has me in a now they're placing me in this foreman position and I'm doing all these things and and yeah, it was it was a pretty wild thing. Wow, Les. Yeah, it was so like when you're, he started telling us about what they were doing cuz like one of his first pays that ways he got paid was like a Walmart to Walmart transaction, which was weird shit. And that's what raised the first red flag. And then that led into like your overtime they were trying to break up their pay week to where, cuz you can break up a pay period to where you're not gonna be working overtime. Technically, because of how they break up the work week. But no matter how they had that laid out, they had to, and then you showed me that they had you fill out a W nine. And I was like, dude, you're fucking 10 99. And he was like what exactly does that mean? I says, it means you're being misclassified. And Dylan's what the hell do you mean by that? And I explained to him that if you're working under a 10 99, there's a lot of companies out there that lead people to believe that there's such thing as a 10 99 employee. And that's, there's no such thing as that. And like your dad, when he worked as a 10 99, he was working for himself. He would go there, he would do a job, he would get that job done, he'd be done fully legal. Nothing wrong with it, that's what it's intended for. But tons of contractors use it because when they do a 10 99, you're not covered by insurance. I remember the look on your face when I told you, if you get hurt at work, you're on your own. Yeah, because they don't have to pay into workman's comp. They're not liable for you whatsoever because you're technically an independent contractor. You work for yourself and nobody's your boss. You cover your own insurance in the real, in the, if you were doing it properly. But they never do. So they were taking such advantage of you. That's why they were able to afford to pay at 35 an hour. Cuz they're not paying into insurances. They're not paying into unemployment, they're not paying into anything. They're not even paying payroll tax that is paying you in cash. No. And then but then they getting into it and his boss that he's not supposed to even. Yeah, it's sending him text messages with that he's gonna be in charge of these guys and that in charge of him and this and that. And it just turned into an ordeal. I wasn't super educated on 10 99 and misclassification at the time, but after I got done working with Dylan, I was pretty well educated, illegal, and what wasn't. And 10 90 nines before, and that they were, they were hurting this country because of them using'em. But I didn't know why. And when I really dug into it, I realized how much of an impact it has on that person and how much of an impact it has on the economy. You're these people that get stuck doing this for their whole career they think that they're riding this freaking golden unicorn, because they're making such good money. But then when it comes time to where they either fall and get hurt or something happens, they're stuck and then they're a burden to the taxpayers. Or when they go to, when they go to retire, they have no social security to draw from. They got nothing. They are 100% working for cash under the table. The only difference is that at the end of the year, uncle Sam wants'em to pay a huge lump sum in taxes. Other than that, though, they're just paying taxes. They're not paying, into social security. They're not paying into anything else. It's just, they're just paying taxes. That's what I don't understand. So these people that are doing it, let's say they do it for a whole year, at the end of the year you're still gonna get tax on all of that money. Exactly. So what, how did they continue to do it? Because for me, if I was working for somebody making cash all year long, basically. Cause that's what it. No, taxes are getting taken out. So you're making it, you're making a grip of cash probably. 3,500 a week, but then, yeah, but then at the end of the year, you've gotta pay all this money in taxes and you didn't save any of it because you're making so much and just, fuck, what do they do? Go. Yep. Exactly. That's what I told Dylan right out the gate was start saving money right now. I said, calculate how many, how much in taxes is supposed to be pulled out of this check and pull it out and forget about it. Because at the end of the year, this is what's gonna happen to you. And the reason they get away with it is because they, once that person signed that 10 99, they were, the company was released to all liability. Yeah. It's a, because they're not an employee of that company technically, even though they're you can get in a lot of shit on that, just on the personal level too, because you're technically supposed to have a worker's comp waiver. So that you don't have to have workers comp. Yeah. And the worst part about it is this it's a shitty thing with me, but the worst part about it is this. Think about, I think I was I was overseeing like, what was it, eight, I think eight employees less, yeah. Eight or 10 of them. And those guys don't have any, those guys don't have the benefit of an organizer behind their back to let'em know these things. Those guys don't have any kind of knowledge of that. And I and I'm not saying this in a rude way, but a lot of those guys weren't legal, and I asked him, asked them all, what are you guys making? And anywhere from 12 to$16 an hour, some of those guys were like, what you would consider a journeyman. And and the guys that were legal and did have But we're here legally. And what all that stuff they didn't have, they don't have any knowledge. And how long have they been working for this guy on this 10 99 contract and have no idea about the fucking trouble that they're gonna be in if they ever were to get audited or something, yeah. Wow. A lot of it too is if an ocean inspector came on the job site and you guys were in violation, it wouldn't Oh man, be a contractor that it'd be you. So if you got caught, if you got caught not tying off and there was a fine and issued for that violation, it wouldn't be going to Joe Blow contractor. It'd be going to Dylan Boyd. Yeah. And I'll tell you what, man I sent less pictures of some pretty fucking wild shit. These guys didn't, these guys didn't wear har, they didn't have harnesses. They fucking, they didn't know these things. That the contractor should be fucking showing them and telling them these laws and these things of ways to go home every night. They didn't do that. They didn't know they were just out there cowboying it, having no know, like it was still 1896. They didn't know, they didn't have the knowledge, and it was a sad deal, man, and I tried my hardest. I tried my damnedest less, told me, Hey, man, don't, at this point I'm on a path to back to the union, and at this time I'm not trying to benefit this man the company owner at all. But Les was like, Hey dude, take time and try to lead these guys the right way of making it home every night. He's don't put forth any effort into that man, but make sure that these guys know, to tie off and how to tie off and Yeah, I had to not die. Make sure that these individuals know that there is fucking risk here, and make sure that they can identify the hazard. And so at that point, I would, and these guys, the look on their face is holy shit. And so at that point it became like a mission of mine to make sure that these guys can identify these hazards and knowing, how to prevent this and how to, different ways of tying off. And what can you tie off to, some of these guys had ropes tied around their fucking waists and what were you guys doing? So we were setting machinery doing a little bit of precast, I hate to fucking say, but doing a little bit of precast. Cut penetrations. Close. Close your ears. Last, yeah, we, about all this ear mops. Yeah. Yeah. Doing a lot of heavy machinery doing these these galvanized structures like screen wall type things, but these platforms that this, that these huge machineries had set on. A lot of grinder stuff, a lot of grinding stuff, torch and welding. Two, using two forklifts to maneuver big machinery into the, into this huge slaughterhouse thing. Setting it down a lot of risks and what you guys lot, a lot of rigging. Definitely, yeah. Absolutely. A lot of overweight calculations on rigging and suspended loads. And so this This is a big meat packing plant and you're, the contractor he was working for was the contractor he was working for was contracted to go in and set all this machinery in there and entailed with that machinery was the platforms and any support supporting structures that would support it. And that's where, like when Dylan first got the job, he was thinking he was just set setting machinery and that's where he didn't know that it was, our work. And then once he got working in there and started realizing more and more, and then talked to us and that's when it was like we were working hand in hand with each other. Dylan was pretty much calling me every day and letting me know what was going on because the misclassification of workers, the safety, all that, there were so many issues just in that one spot. You look at these illegal immigrants in there working and those are the. Those are the most exploited, abused workers anywhere, even the ones that are here legally. Because they don't know. They don't know. And that's why I told Dylan, it's dude, just make sure these guys stay safe. And if you're put in a position where you're unsafe, don't be afraid to just walk the fuck out of there. I was all like there. Make sure these guys understand. I said, because at this point there is no, you're helping a non-union contractor, because I know that's where a lot of iron workers are. Like, why would you tell him to teach these guys how to do this or that? And it's no, these guys are, have no protection on them. People. Yeah. The union's, number one mission is to protect the workers, and these are workers that are being exploited, abused. Being put in unsafe conditions that they just are not aware of that, they have no clue the repercussions of what's gonna happen when I unhook this, come along here, or however it may go. It's more than that. Not just unhooking to come along, but when Kevin and I were apprentices, we had an issue where one of the, one of the apprentices on the job hooked up a three ton come along to a half inch choker or three inch joker, and Kevin came on courted on the kid, and I, it wasn't that bad. It was worse than explain. And the look on the kid's face was just like, you gotta be kidding me. But Kevin was, he's a redhead ginger, so his face just turned into this lecha booking type person. He was just fired up and. It's just, in a real world situation. Yeah. At this time, this point in time, that three ton come along. Didn't have anything on it. No weight, nothing. But, like Kevin told me, he says this just bad practice, but that kind of stuff happens on a daily just because it's a wire rope choker, it's a three eight, so you can't put three tons worth of, there's a lot more as in that preton pu along than there isn't that three H choker. Yeah. That kinda stuff. You gotta just, it's frustrating. That's frustra something those people. Some, a specific situation that that I had held was and this was pretty clo early on with this non-union company was they had this huge air handler. and they rig it up. They lifted it up at the crane and it's about to go to the roof. However, they needed to drill these holes up underneath it. And which very easily could have done, you could have done from inside of it. But they had these guys crawling underneath it while it's suspended and drilling these holes up under it. Oh, wow. And and when I had seen it, I was like, what in the fuck? No fucking way. And the guy was looking at me like what? Don't, no, we've been, and I look around and there's probably 10 more of these other handlers and there's already probably 10 of them up there. And he is we've been doing it like this. And I'm like, fuck that. No fucking way. That is not gonna fucking fly. Absolutely not. And I go and I talk to the crane operator and I'm like, what the fuck is going on? Why are you having these guys get under there? And he's they're not my employees. I'm, I work with these, this you gotta talk to this company owner. And I'm like, fuck, he's in Texas, dude. What the fuck? Man, this isn't good. And he's fucking tell him. They don't understand me. I don't fucking know. And I'm like, what the fuck? And I go over there and I tell, and I explain to the guy that, that knows the most English. And I'm like, Hey, this is not good, man. You're using endless chokers that you just pulled out of the mud. This isn't, you can't do that, and Yeah, it was a fucking thing, dude. And it just goes to show and I'm not trying to help a, I was, my intent was nowhere near trying to help this non-union company because at this point I'm mad cuz at this point I know the exploitation that happens with non-union companies. But now I'm like, more or less these fucking kids don't know what the fuck. They don't see the hazard. They're not, they don't have the knowledge to identify that this is extremely fucking stupid and dangerous. And yeah, that was just one of the many fucking experiences that I had. That was the one that like caught me. And at that point it became like a fucking, like a, an everyday thing to try to identify these fucking hazards for these guys so they can make it home to their families that they're out here in Idaho working for, I'm just like, fuck exploited much. Like before when you were with your non-union company though too. Oh dude. To a company like that, long term. Are they gonna be successful, long term or do you think eventually it's gonna, it's gonna catch up with them and they'll go under, or, what do you guys think? My opinion on it, the company itself so for this particular job site, I turned him into the Department of Labor with all that stuff. I don't know what come about of all that. So where they sit right now, I don't know. But if nothing happens to'em if nobody reports it. But that's where a lot of workers don't understand that they're being, that they're being wrong. That, that what they're doing is illegal on the contractor side, they don't understand. That's where if they don't get reported, they're gonna flourish. They're gonna thrive. You could see it across the country right now. Contractors are thriving off of this practice right here and. If nobody understands what it means in the repercussions and what liability they're personally taking, they won't, they don't know no better. They won't say nothing, so they don't get reported. So it's a matter of them getting reported and investigated and, eventually it goes to a courtroom where they're investigated and go pretty much sit down and spill their case out. But other than that man, they thrive cuz they'll just get another person that's, uneducated or just doesn't give a shit and go do the same thing to them. Same thing to the next person. They'll probably bring on their kids cuz they're like, shit man, you wanna make some damn good money under the table, you just gotta sign this paper. So that goes along. So last week, I don't think this episode's there yet. Last week we were talking to Rick and that was a big part of our conversation. How these people that want to take advantage of the workers, they look for the uneducated, they look for the people that don't know any better so that they could take advantage of them. And obviously with Dylan there was a massive language barrier it sounds like. How do you think that they pitched this when there isn't that language barrier? How do these companies, when, for some of our listeners that are maybe getting 10 99 and don't even realize it, what do you think would be some of the sales pitches that these companies would tell'em to lore'em into these situations? Honestly, the sad part is there's not a whole lot they gotta sell. They just gotta tell'em that, Hey, you're gonna be making this amount of cash and it's a high number, which attracts'em, because there's a lot of con companies out there where you do fill out a W four, you do it properly and you're not getting benefits, but you're getting a low wage and they feel like it might be the same. And they're, they just see that high wage and that's all they gotta give them, and they just don't know any better. And if they do know better and they do it anyways, then really they're not getting exploited. They exploited themselves. That, I think, a lot of the time I think they come they come up here looking for something better, right? Yeah. And we're talking about mostly Hispanic workers. Obviously, and like in the past with stepped into the politics a little bit, but in the past that we've heard about all these, how it's horses, shit the Hispanic worker comes up here and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, they come up there looking for something better, and they're offered something 30 obviously not$35 an hour because they are undocumented or they don't have the proper paperwork that they, they could feel, oh, safe. In a way to fill out because the government's gonna come, come and get'em or whatever. However that works out. That fear, but they're up here for one reason and that's to take care of their family, and to provide for the family the exact same shit that every one of us are doing on a daily basis. The only difference is we were born in this country, we have these papers or whatever, and and I've had several conversations with a lot of Hispanic workers and being able to, get on that level with them. And it's it's so sad that there's people out there that exploit that, that take advantage of that person and their family. They know if they know damn well that person isn't gonna say anything because it costs that livelihood and what's he gonna do? Go down the road he's making, say he is making$20 here, he is not gonna leave and go make less money. He's gonna keep his mouth shut. And the problem with America has. because they don't understand that. They see a worker, a Hispanic individual coming up here taking jobs, is what they say. They're taking their job, but they're taking a job to provide for their family. Yeah. And it's exactly, it's too damn bad that there's people out, their company owners. Shame on this company owners that do that to a person. Absolutely. And like you said, they get away with it and that's the worst part. Yeah. This is all the more reason why we all need to work together and unionize and stay in a brotherhood and look out for each other. This is a prime example of what goes on with these workers working for these outfits that, that know all of these little loopholes you could call'em, to exploit'em and to take advantage of them. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. there's a, you hear people say it all the time, I don't think unions are needed anymore. They did their job and it set everything straight. And examples like this show you why, unions are needed. If it wasn't for a union, if it wasn't for a union organizer or union rep finding out about this one job, it would've went completely under the radar. And those guys never would've learned anything outta it. But then you look at it, how many more of this, these same exact situations are happening, clear across the country, and you tell me that unions aren't needed anymore. They're needed more now than they have been needed in decades, just because stuff like this is going on all over. And like you said, Kevin, now's the time when workers need to, organize and do what's right so that they can quit being exploited. It's. They're the ones that are putting their lives on the line to do this work. Just like those workers Dylan was working with. They're the ones there standing under this air handler unit because they were told to do it that way. And they're the ones that's gonna die and then their family ain't gonna be taken care of whatsoever. That person's just dead and gone, and their family's gonna be sad and cry. And that's the end of that person's life. Yeah. The owner, everything else still goes on. Yeah. That company owner's still making millions, that company owner's still, getting what they need. And to them they're like, oh man, that sucks. That was too bad. I like that guy. Didn't he have a cousin that needed a job? Shit, let's give him a call. I'm sure you're not too far off. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. And I think it goes even deeper than that. Even the ones that aren't being exploited with the 10 99, they're still being exploited in other ways. Like for instance, you, when you were working for that non-union outfit, Them, not them expecting you to be out of town and not picking up your rumor or not. Just the stuff that we find in the union. The stuff that, I guess you'd call it the sweetheart deal. To me in a way that's exploitation because they're expecting you to be somewhere, but they're not, they don't give you the opportunity to, they don't pick up your room. They're not paying you any anymore than what you're making and stay at home. And so why should you travel? That's the other thing too. So you're outta 7 32. What's the pay scale between you guys and Seattle? You're working out in Washington, the join the union. There's pay differences there and things like that, that come into play and working non-union, they're not going to, they're not even gonna pay for a room or per diem or anything. You said what, 35 bucks? Yeah, they paid, put$35 to the room. They put 35 the room. And they roomed with you, roomed with who they had you room with. And if you're in recovery and they don't give a fuck, you're gonna room with this guy. And if this guy's all fucked up on dope, they don't give a fuck. You're rooming room with this guy. You don't have the option. You don't choose. This is who you're going with. They're paying for the room. So they put 35 into the room, or you can opt out of the 35 and fucking, and you can opt out the 35. And we all talked about it and we were like, so yeah. So this fucking room costs a hundred dollars. And and they're paying 35 a piece. It was a really fucked up deal and we had to room together and we didn't get to choose who we roomed with. And it was a fucking, you had to like, Like it had to be amongst the guys. If if me and if they chose me and Les to room together and, but me and Bucket wanted a room together, it would have to be okay with me and Bucket and with Les and then whoever they had less with that everybody was gonna switch. And if one of us was a fucking asshole, drunk fucking snorers, like a fucking jackhammer, and nobody wants to room with him and you're fucked me, Yeah. That's my wife hassle. Asshole. Not a drunk. And I snor like a, so two, three. So there's one thing that I wanna touch on. So I've been in recovery for about four or five years now too. So your drug use from prior. Was that something that started with the iron workers or was that something that was already there? Because I know it's pretty, pretty strong in the trade with a lot of guys. It's hard to stay away from. It's pretty easy. I'll tell you to get wrapped up and it'll fuck your world up in a hurry. Oh, fucking quick. Oh, fucking quick, man. I was, I'll tell you what, I was fucked up. No. So this is what happened. Okay. So this is exactly what happened. Not gonna get into too much detail on exactly why I was removed from the program, but I did something that was extremely fucking stupid. I was on I had relapsed on meth. So first of all I was working at home at this time. When I relapsed, I was working at home and I had ran into some old. At the project that I was on, which was a plant. And these guys weren't, these guys aren't union iron workers. These guys are, this guy was just he was working at that plant. I seen him, I ran into him. He was an old buddy of mine. Went to school together. And I decided to hang out with him after work one day, and I never went home again. And and I was in the same town as my wife and my pregnant wife at the time. And I just never came home again after that day. But so then that relapse had gone on for about I'd say four or five months. And I just went downhill so fucking fast and obviously, so of my work ethic, showing up on time taking longer breaks if I even showed up to work. And these were the things, yeah these were amongst the things that had been removed from the program. Aside from that sounds just like Kevin. Kevin was, yeah. And aside from that I didn't try to hide it. Like when when lesson and my coordinator Buzz asked me what was going on immediately, it was the, it was hey, this is what's going on. And yes, I did do that. I did and I I wanted to make it right, and, but I'll tell you what, One thing that has really blown me away is Yeah I'm sure there there's, every trade has their fair share of active drug addicts. But something that, and I don't know if it's just 7 32 or what, but and this is in all honesty, Les, this is just, in all honesty, I have yet to meet 1 7 32 hand. That is a tweaker. I haven't, I just, I haven't come across one that is an active fucking meth addict and which is comforting, which is cool. However, I have met a lot of guys that are in recovery, and along with that, Les has opened a door for me with the, with this international recovery program through our union. And which is an amazing, great fucking thing. And I've been to international recovery meetings and I've gotta meet these guys and they're guys just like us. And not only that, and I won't see any names, but even guys in international positions and they're just like me. And it humanizes these guys. And and now I have these members, these contacts I'm in contact with these guys that, that that check on, check in on me. I check in on them. I've had the opportunity to even help a guy gave him guidance, man, he was having a struggle with his wife. And I was like, Hey man. I think we, I think if it was me, I, I owe it to my wife to, to take that non-trust, that she doesn't have that trust yet. I have to accept that, I haven't earned that back. And it helped that guy, man. And that was just really cool, man. That's the other thing about this union that is so fucking amazing, dude, is is the support. Even last fucking always, we don't go two weeks without him checking in on me and seeing how I'm doing and, Hey, have you been to a fucking meeting? He does that every time. Have you been to a meeting? Where you at? Oh, I'm in fucking Bozeman. Oh, there's this one on this at this address at this time. You can even get in contact with this guy if he's still there. That's the whole thing about it. And so with that being said, guys in our local have been to the places that I go to or am gonna go to at these different projects, and they're familiar with these areas and if they're in recovery, they're familiar with these recovery circles, and that's a fucking, that's a super cool thing. That's a very fucking cool thing that he actually gives a fuck about my livelihood enough. To check in on that and to have guidance for that. And I would, and I never, would never see that in a non-union company. It just, it's not a thing. You know what I mean? That company owner doesn't give a fuck if you are in recovery, get that fucking job done. that's so to me that right there, what you just said is that, is the brotherhood. We talked about it like in the Iron Patch and all that shit, but when you said you heard, the, the hell less or less is an asshole, this and that, I get that same shit. I'm sure there's a lot of guys out there. Like I, I've passed my card around as the organizer for 27th a lot, and I'm sure that is the same comments that are made about me, but I'm, I don't want to too my own horn either. But I would do the same thing yeah. For any member or anybody out there that needed, needed that support. I've never gone through. Oh, he helped me a lot when I was getting clean and getting sober and all that shit, I've never gone through this the sobriety thing, but I'm always there to listen, and talk about shit. Even. I understand a lot. Like we've talked about it a lot on the podcast, that there's a lot of people that struggle, yeah. With depression or they struggle with, it all usually goes hand in hand. Drugs, alcohol, depression, your life falling apart, fucking kids getting taken away. Fuck, fucking whole life gets fucking destroyed. The point I want, the point I want get at though is, is you hear that, oh, that Les is an asshole, or he's a dickhead, or blah, blah, blah. But, and then, once you experience that guy, and Les has been there for me as well, him and I talk a lot as far as organizers go. And bounce stuff off each other's shoulders and heads and everything. And, but the point of what I'm trying to get to in a roundabout way, cause that's how I like to explain shit, is, oh boy, what is the point I'm trying to get to now? The point is that is the guy that's gonna go out of his way. Yeah. The point is his personal time to see his success, the point, his home life and everything. The point, what I'm trying to Yeah, though, is like, if there's way more to it as an organizer than just, Hey, you want a better job, Hey, here's more money, here's an opportunity. There's way more that goes into what Less does and what I try to do on a daily basis than just show up and quote unquote, strip guys or if that non-union company owner, they always think we're there to poach their people, but it's not that we're there to help workers. Have something better and better their lives and absolutely for a lot of the time. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that only know the union through West, and I'm sure there's a lot of people here that only know the union through me. And I can tell you right now the guy that I go through West, I if Wes was what I thought of as the union, that'd be for signing up tomorrow. And that's just how it's, there's, he's a good guy and he's looking at me right now through the video. But I would say that to his face too. It's just a, I think that all of us as members need to be that kind of person for the non-union, which they absolutely, they can see the union through us and realize that what the union offers is better than where they're at. Whether it's the absolutely 10 99 or their being whatever, that they can see the union, Hey, that guy holds himself to a higher standard and there's a lot of knuckleheads. I've done my fair share of knucklehead shit, and I know Kevin has too. And we've been on, we've been in on a few things together. But if we can step back and be that person that, exemplifies what the union stands for and what our standard of excellence stands for, we could grow a hell of a lot faster than we are. And with that, I would like to if it's okay, first can I have you guys turn your camera a little bit so I can, is that a thing? Yeah, I'd to, I'd like to see you when you talk as well. The time, this time. I don't even know what you look like but that's weird. I can see. Yeah. I can't fucking see him. That is, maybe I'll turn my phone and see if that helps. Nope, that doesn't help. With that, do you see him, Les? Can you see him? Yeah, I was able to see both of them. Yeah. I can't fucking, I can only see. That better? Nope. But that's fine though. Maybe if you guys can just huddle up together. gotta give y gotta give y'all, Hey bro. Come under my wing. Oh God, no. But I would actually like to take a second and and just thank Les and give a shout out to my president buzz Brian Rigby. My business agent, Jim Waco and our office manager Savannah, just for the faith and the hard work. That and even I've, even though I've been a fucking knucklehead they never held it against me and they've had faith in me. And because of that, I've had faith in myself and I've been able to believe in myself and. Make it a fucking long ways, man. I feel like I've come a long ways and it wouldn't have been possible. And I know Les is gonna try to fucking over hook it with, Hey, you've done all the work. Cuz he does that. He does. But no man, with the fucking, with the work that they've fucking invested in me and the faith and the path and the guidance I've actually been able to have a fucking successful life. And and not just that, but my family man, and they've involved my family. They've, just everything that they've done, the union and with these fucking guys and women that they have done. And it's just an amazing thing, dude. And it's not possible without the union dude. And and I have a good life ahead of me because of this. And one thing on that, you. We gotta practice what we preach. If we, all a union is a group of workers standing together. That's all it is. It's not one single entity. It is you. It's bucket, it's Kevin, it's me, it's all of us standing together. And it's not just to stand to the contractor, it's to, lift each other up. It's to keep each other going. We are each other's. There was a saying, Cesar I believe it was Cesar Chavez. You're never so great that you don't need help. Yeah. you'll never be so great that you don't need any help. Everybody needs help. And if nobody's standing up and helping you, what the hell good are they to have around, there's gonna be a day where I might be struggling and I might need to get ahold of Dylan and be like, Dylan, I need some fucking help, man. I do it to Bucket all the time. I'll call him. He'll call me. We, that's what all of us are for, is to. The camaraderie that is in our organization is many people who come in from hard helmets to hard hats from the military, say that they love this trade simply because of the camaraderie. And that's what it's all about. We gotta hold each other up. If we don't hold each other up, then what the hell good is this? There is no good in it if we're not helping each other. Definitely. Very true. Dylan, I know you gotta get back to work. Can you see us now or no? Nope. Damn. Technology has me completely baled just know that I'm good looking. Yeah, I believe it. I know you've gotta get to back to work and everything, so We'll we'll probably end this here, but we always try to end up with. The guests or the guests that leaving a little bit of knowledge for the non-union or the unrepresented worker. So if you were to, so if you were to be in front of a non worker right now, or, what would be some advice she'd give them as far as how the union or how they can be, how they can better their lives and become part of the union? Yeah. I as with everything we've said in this podcast one thing I would like to say is this is join the apprenticeship program. It's going to be one of the hardest things. That you'll ever do in your life. Actually, you know what, it's not one of becoming a j i w journeyman iron worker is not gonna be one of the hardest things you've done in your life, but it's definitely going to be one of the greatest accomplishments that you can have, that you can do in your life is to make it through that apprenticeship program and become a real journeyman iron worker and and have that come in the, and had that camaraderie and just have that success, man. And, the sky is literally the limit when you joined the union because I'll tell you what, right now because I've joined the union and I've put a lot into it. The paths are endless. There's so many different ways you can go. You can be a J I W for the rest of your life. If you want, you can become a foreman. As a matter of fact, they want you to become a foreman. They don't want to hold you down under their thumb. They want you to take their job. They want you to expand. They want you to own your own company, and they will help you fucking do it. They will give you the path, the means, the education all these different things. Man, you can do it. You can do whatever you want when you join the union. You don't have to just be a fucking hand the rest of your life. You don't have to just work for one company the rest of your life and be under their thumb. Man I have goals and plans and aspirations to own my own company. I would, I have a son named Cyrus, and I want that company to be called Sahi still records. That is my goal. That is what I want to do, and it is so fucking possible and so fucking tangible. And I have so many guys behind the guys that, that, that are there and guys that know the path that I need to go down that are helping me to stay on that path and to go that path and open the doors for me to be on that path. And with an if if I wasn't union, that wouldn't be possible, that I would either have to be born into money, and even then, the chances of it happening aren't likely. If you're born into money, you're not gonna be an iron worker anyway. That's true. Honestly. But yeah that's what I would say to a non-union non-union person, man is fucking get, is Google it. Google whatever, wherever you're at. If you're in Tennessee, union, I workers, just fucking Google it. Make that step. Get an organizer's phone number. Call that organizer and make that step, man, you won't regret it. And coming from a person that was non-union that it didn't make sense to, oh fuck man. I'll tell you what, do it make that leap of fucking faith and fucking, and try it out. And you know what? If it ain't for you, if you don't like it, Go back non-union, but I promise you, you won't. You know what I mean? It's a real fucking thing. This thing is a movement and this thing is tough and it's unstoppable and it will change your fucking life. And these men that, that are in this union, they will stand behind you. They will, they, we will do what it takes man to make it. Thank you. Les. What do you got for us? Big dog. Big dog. I was gonna, I was just gonna say if you're one of them workers listening, that's being exploited, that's, say maybe working under a 10 99 and maybe what I said brought up some red flags for you is to your workplace. You don't have to be alone in dealing with it. Talk with your coworkers or get ahold of local union or whatever and get educated. Learn. Just cuz you're non-union doesn't mean that a. that a local union isn't gonna help you. You're not by yourself. And if you wanna make a change where you're at to help the next guy, like Dylan was doing with those guys, trying to make a change and educate'em, do it. Get ahold of somebody, you're never too good. Not need any help. So get ahold of the local union. Ask to speak with an organizer. Explain your situation, and work with that organizer, man. Make a difference. Make a change. You don't have to be union to do it, so love it. Ken, what you got? What's your wisdom here? My wisdom? Oh, God. It's pretty limited what I've got to offer. Honestly, I would say the biggest thing would probably be don't give up on yourself. If you're struggling with, drugs, alcohol, that kind of stuff. Stay with it. It's worth it. And, it makes your life a hell a lot better without all that shit. And if you've got a good support system like Dylan had and like I had, and lean on him and if you don't take a chance and try to find one, people are there to help. I'm sure. Definitely. I just want to echo what you guys have all said. It's been pretty spot on and for those that are listening, we do have our Instagram page. It is ran by two of us. Kevin doesn't have an Instagram cause he goes 1902 But it is ran. So if you do the Iron Worker Podcast, Instagram if you need any help finding the organizers or finding somebody to talk to or support that way I am available in my, I check it pretty frequently to if there's anything I can do, please reach out. Especially if you're this time of year, I know it's tough. It's, it's the holiday season and a lot of, a lot of hard times. Reach out to one another and let's look together, let's lift up everything, we don't build a building by ourselves and build it together. I just wanna, I want to make that search like clear and certain that if you guys need anything, my phone's always on. And please reach out. I will get you in touch with the organizer in your area. I will get you in touch with, the information that you need. I'll help you anywhere I can. And I know that goes for any organizer. But I can say that without a doubt. So if you are being exploited or you feel like you are, or you have questions about the union, and like Dylan said, there's a lot of bullshit, Stupid shit that people say to keep you under their thumb. Ask the right people, ask the appropriate people. And I might not be the right person, but I'll find the answer for you. I'll put you in the direction to have someone give you that answer. So reach out. I wrote the podcast Instagram page. Yeah, I just wanna say what you guys are doing is amazing, man. And and it's a really fucking cool thing to get this exposure out and to to spread this word, dude it's a cool thing you guys and the blue collar Chronicles man, this is super cool. And and it gets your guys' podcast gets listened to so much. I listened to it. And it was as simple as Googling Iron Worker podcasts. pretty simple. We had to make it simple cause we know iron workers aren't simple. Yeah, whatever. I dunno. I was gonna say Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you guys are fucking cool, man. And this is a cool thing. This movement is awesome. And yeah, it's just appreciate you guys, man. Appreciate you too, Dylan, and we're great. That we're grateful that you're part of the brotherhood and that you're going stronger on your sobriety up. That's impressive. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for your, thanks for coming on fellas. Hell time. I enjoyed it. Yep. Thanks. I appreciate you. Hey, I appreciate you, Dylan. Yep. You're a good example, man. All right guys. We'll talk to you later. We'll see. Talk to weekend. Yep. Have a safe week too. Yep. Bye.