Lost Job

[GreatLakesGramma]

Yesterday there was a meeting between my husband's employer and all the employees. The employer has been completely unable to get any contracts for this year, even though he has bid all jobs at cost only. Some other contractor has always bid lower. The only way they can hope to get any jobs at all is if the guys take significant pay cuts, like 35% or more. Even then, there's no guarantee there will be any work. So for all practical purposes, my husband has lost his job.

There's very little construction going on any more, and many other contractors are also laying off workers or going out of business. Most of the work husband had last year was government funded, meaning probably paid for by stimulus money. We knew that wasn't going to be a permanent situation.

This was kind of shock to hear all of a sudden, but we are going to be OK. God has promised to take care of us, and provide for all our needs. We might have to leave Michigan. Two of our three children already have, and it would be nice to live close enough to them to actually see them once in a while. But we don't know. We need to prepare now for whatever we might need to do, and be ready when the time comes to make whatever major change we have to make. Because we will have to make one. We just don't know what, or when.

So I'd appreciate prayers for guidance, and for a few miracles of selling things, like our travel trailer and my husband's 1965 Mustang he restored to original.

[Gail]

Wow, GLG!! May the Lord bless as He opens doors for you and guides you!!!

Please keep us updated! I will pray!

[phkrause]

Will be praying for you and your husband. I know what its like. God has been with us. Been able to pay my bills. Some not on time but have been able to keep up. Right now the mortgage people are seeing what they can do for us. God will take care of all of us. Keep the Faith, which I know you will.

pk

[GreatLakesGramma]

Unbelievably, I found a listing on Craigslist for a job opening that is a perfect description of the job my husband has been doing for the past 25 years for his current employer. It's close enough for us to stay in our current home, though it would be a 1 hour commute instead of 15 minutes. The hourly wage is slightly more than husband has been getting for the past 5 years too.

I have been agonizing over writing huband's resume and cover letter for the last 2 days (I am no good at this sort of thing), and have FAXed them to the employer this morning.

The thing is, husband's current employer is his brother, who is also an Adventist. The other employer probably isn't, so there could be problems with it. Plus, it was a misunderstanding on my part that this would be husband's last week finishing his one remaining project from last year. He still has enough work on that one to keep him busy for awhile. It was the other one he was still working on that had to be finished 3 weeks ahead of opening on April 1. So it's possible his brother could succeed in getting jobs that might even start by the time husband finishes the current one, though I don't know how we'd manage on that much of a reduction in wages, especially if he works even fewer hours than he has been the last few years. But God does.

I just want whatever is best, whether another job, or continuing where he is.

[Tallmark]

My prayers are for him. I suggest his own business. He'd work doing what he wants to do, with people who he enjoys working with (or none at all), making better money than he ever did. Oh, and never a Sabbath problem. I did that decades ago and threw the alarm clocks out.

[Dr. Shane]

What exactly does your husband do? Project managers typically won't have problems getting Sabbath off. Project Superintendents do have more difficulty with that. I have been a commercial construction project manager for the past 12 years and never had an issue with getting Sabbaths off. Many companies will even give superintendents the day off and let a lead carpenter watch the project on Saturdays. If the company is unionized the union wouldn't permit that.

[oldsailor29]

When the Lord provides us with a job, we are working for Him. It is not our job. It is His. And whatever that job is, it is just as sacred as preaching and healing because we are working for the Lord. If we can't do it on Sabbath, then we are not working for the Lord.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Shane, my husband is a journeyman electrician. He works mostly in commercial construction, though his favorites are the really big industrial jobs. He loves the challenge.

The Sabbath issues would come mostly because they have to wait for other workers to finish their jobs before they can do each phase of their work. Their finishing work is among the very last things to be done, and if the other workers have been lackadaisical about the schedule, they may have to pull a last-minute weekend for the customer to be able to open on Monday morning. Working for a Sabbath keeping employer means he has the freedom to go in after sunset and work straight through to Monday morning if necessary. If a new employer trusts him enough to let him do the same, it won't be a problem.

My prayers are for him. I suggest his own business. He'd work doing what he wants to do, with people who he enjoys working with (or none at all), making better money than he ever did. Oh, and never a Sabbath problem. I did that decades ago and threw the alarm clocks out.

Tallmark, my husband is already doing what he loves. To be self-employed doing the same thing, he'd have to get a contractor's license, buy more (and expensive) tools and equipment, and hire other people, and then he would have to do a whole bunch of things he would not like doing, and not get to do the part he loves anymore.

Besides, he's been self-employed before, as an auto body mechanic, and we were living way below the government's official poverty level for years while he did that. We've been much better off financially since he went to work for his brother. Even now, with him averaging only 30 hours per week over the course of the year, and not getting a raise in his hourly wage in five years, we are still much better off than when he was self-employed.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Oldsailor, this is not an appropriate place to start a disagreement about what is or is not proper to do on the Sabbath. My husband and I do not agree with you, and that is not your business.

[Tallmark]

Depends on the vocation. I was SE as a real estate investor. Big checks, but spread out over too far of a period of time was stressful. I have online sites to bring in money, a home inspection business, and a construction business. I'm a GC. I understand the hassles with getting an electrical license. Major $$$

[GreatLakesGramma]

My husband really doesn't have the temperament to be self-employed. He has done side jobs and auto body work for friends and relatives through the years but to be self-employed full time doesn't work for him.

[Dr. Shane]

An electrician shouldn't be unemployed too long but a geographical move may be required if an entire local economy dies like what is happening in a few states like Michigan. As long as people use electricity, there will be a demand for electricians. However if large employers in a given area close down, everyone in that area is going to be impacted and that is what is happening in Michigan.

If your husband is a member of a union they should be able to find him work in other states if he is willing to relocate.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Shane, we are anti-labor union. Relocating is an option, but we won't consider it unless/until all other options for staying here fail. Our daughter found a job on Craigslist near her where he could earn $50-$71 per hour, but it's second shift, so there would be Sabbath issues. Plus, we really don't want to leave our home here. Husband has done a lot of work on the house, until it suits us to a T, and even though when we first came here, the thought of living in MY grandparents' house and NOT keeping HIS family farm when his parents died was unacceptable to him, he's now reached the point where he is willing to sell his family farm to keep our home.

[Dr. Shane]

Would he consider changing the exact kind of electrical work he does? Perhaps looking for work in a plant or security/fire alarm. Maybe working in a maintenance department of a shopping mall or school? A lot of colleges have electricians on their payroll. Some school districts do too.

[oldsailor29]

Oldsailor, this is not an appropriate place to start a disagreement about what is or is not proper to do on the Sabbath. My husband and I do not agree with you, and that is not your business.

I'm just saying, when the Lord provides us with a job, and we refuse to do it on Sabbath, we are dishonoring and disrespecting the Lord. But anybody who knows enough about electricity to calculate I=E/R, is smart enough to figure that out for themselves.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Would he consider changing the exact kind of electrical work he does? Perhaps looking for work in a plant or security/fire alarm. Maybe working in a maintenance department of a shopping mall or school? A lot of colleges have electricians on their payroll. Some school districts do too.

He probably will look for something else if he can't find enough work in construction.

[Dr. Shane]

I wouldn't advise him to let his electrical license go. My point is that electricians are also needed in maintenance - not just construction.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Oh no, God forbid! He would NEVER let his license go! That test was HARD, and he doesn't EVER want to have to take it again. I think even if he retired, he'd still keep renewing his license every year, just in case.

That's a very big part of the reason he doesn't want to move to the state our kids live in. He would have to take THEIR test, and that state is so restricted and regulated, it would probably be even harder than Michigan's.

[oldsailor29]

Hospitals have electricians on their payroll.