Anyone join MEBA in the past few months and find any work? Thinking about joining it since Amo hasn’t given me a single lead since I filled out the app 6 months ago.
What kind of license do you hold and where is the nearest hiring hall to your house? I see group 3 guys getting out but as 1st or Ch/Eng. It’s going to be tough getting out as group 3 Third right now. Things will pick back up come summer time.
Unlimited 3rd and OICEW. NY/NJ would be the closest. Thanks for the info, I’ll give it a shot i suppose.
Take a drive down and register now. That way you will be ahead of all the new graduates come summer time. If you can afford to stay at another union hall, that would help too. LA and NY/NJ seems tougher to crack then say somewhere like Houston.
Go down and join. It will cost $150 to get started. If you get a job great if not what’s $150? NJ is a little tough in January for a group 3 3rd. However I’ve seen guys do it. Plus you can network with others and find out which Hall is poppin
Thanks for the info fellas. Am I correct in the fact that with MEBA you must physically wait in the hall everyday for a posting to become available or is it like AMO where the dispatchers supposedly will call when something opens?
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You are correct.
Any info on the Boston hall for a group 3 3rd this time of year?
You need to be there when the job is called.
Almost all the jobs are filled at job call (MEBA is 1300 hrs IIRC, best to check)… Jobs are posted on the board, members throw in their cards. The dispatcher arranges the cards by seniority (group 1,2 and 3) then by date and time. Person with the best card gets first pick.
Sometimes a pierhead jump will come that needs to be filled right away or someone fails the physical or turns the job back in. For that reason some of the most junior members will sometimes wait at the hall for a good part of the day. Senior guys often only come in day they know the job they want is going to be called.
Members with permanent jobs (Chiefs and firsts, some 2nds and 3rds?") don’t need to come to job call.
Not very good.
Not even for the terrible jobs nobody wants?
Not a lot of ships come into Boston. It’s a great hall for meetings but not shipping. Most guys head to NY. You can get an open board job out of Boston if there are any
Guess my best bet would be hoping for an open board job. Thanks for the
info.
Any luck in Boston?
How is MEBA in Oakland for first 3rd engine job? New A&M grad, have all certs required.
Oakland and LA can be tough for group 3 in January and February. However most guys go fo the higher paying box boats. They turn down a lot of tankers and car carriers…etc.
I would have thought you would be sitting in the Houston hall if you are from Texas. There are 2 things to consider when you are looking for work; First, the number of jobs that pass through the hall. A close second is the cost to be there while looking for work.
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Yeah, when I first got out of school and moved back to the House, the closest hall was San Francisco. . . I think I stayed at every cheap hotel and flophouse from Vacaville to the East Bay. . . even spent a week at the San Francisco Y. . .now THAT was an experience. . .
The night hawk and day jobs use to be good in sf/oak Earn a few bucks while waiting for a shipping job
Thanks for input. From California.