IBEW Local 3 (New York City) Wage Scale

IBEW Local 3 represents electrical workers across New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County. Founded in 1899 and chartered through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, it remains one of the largest single Locals in the country with tens of thousands of members across multiple craft divisions. The Local is structured around several divisions that reflect distinct trades and jurisdictions, the largest of which is the M Division covering building-trade inside wireman work. Other divisions cover utility (Con Edison and LIPA service work), manufacturing, communications, signs, and the entertainment industry.

The Local bargains with the New York Electrical Contractors Association (NYECA) on behalf of signatory employers, producing the inside wireman agreement that sets the rate cited on this page. Signatory contractors in NYC range from very large firms doing skyscraper, transit, and hospital work, down to smaller residential and tenant-fit-out shops. Big names include Skanska, E-J Electric Installation, Five Star Electric, ADCO Electrical, Petrocelli Electric, and Forest Electric. Many of these firms are NECA members and have multi-decade signatory relationships with Local 3.

Local 3 work is concentrated in the dense vertical construction market that defines New York. A typical Local 3 journeyman in any given year may work on high-rise office towers in Midtown, hospital and biotech labs on the East Side, transit modernisation work for the MTA, hotel and condominium projects in the outer boroughs, and tenant fit-outs for financial-services companies in Lower Manhattan. The diversity of work types is a meaningful pay floor: when one sector cools, others keep members on the bench list for less time than would be the case in a more single-sector market.

For background on the building-trade electrician role generally, see the journeyman electrician salary page and the comparison of union versus non-union total compensation. For the New York state context, see electrician salary in New York.

The path into Local 3 runs through the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry (JIB) at jibei.org. Applications open in posted windows (not continuously), and candidates should plan to monitor the JIB site. The basic eligibility checklist is a high school diploma or recognised equivalent, a valid driver license, US work authorisation, and the physical ability to do the work safely. Veterans receive standing preference, as is standard in IBEW JATC apprenticeships nationally.

The selection process is straightforward but competitive. Candidates take an aptitude test administered by the Electrical Training Alliance, sit for a structured interview, complete a physical, and then are ranked. Acceptance into the next class depends on the ranked-list position and the size of that year's accepted cohort, which fluctuates with the construction pipeline. Successful candidates sign an indenture and report to the Electrical Industry Training Center in Long Island City for Period 1 schooling, beginning paid OJT with a signatory contractor shortly thereafter.

Once in, the apprentice is responsible for hours documented on the contractor's job, related instruction at the Training Center on a fixed schedule, and the periodic competency assessments that gate progression from one period to the next. The total program is structured around 8,000 hours OJT plus 900 to 1,000 hours of related instruction over five years. The Code-of-Excellence orientation is delivered early, and apprentices are evaluated continuously by the JATC.

For workers already credentialed elsewhere, IBEW offers a Direct Entry path through which experienced non-union electricians can be admitted as full journeymen after a competency assessment. This is more common in growing markets and during peaks. For workers genuinely starting from zero, the apprenticeship pathway is the durable route, with a clear five-year arrival at the full journeyman rate.