Journeyman pipefitters under UA Local 4 in West Boylston, MA earn $49.50/hr in base wages, or $75.92/hr as a total package with fringe benefits, effective Oct 2022. This sheet is more than 2 years old, so confirm the current rate with the hall before quoting it.
UA Local 4 runs its own dispatch and out-of-work list — call the hall to confirm hours, books and what to bring. Gulfstream is a private recruiter and does not control hall referral.
The Local 4 pay scale is $49.50 per hour for journeymen in West Boylston, MA, or about $99,000 a year at 2,080 hours. The total package, including employer-paid fringe benefits, is $75.92 per hour. That is the last wage sheet we can source for this local — confirm the current rate with the hall.
| Local 4 journeyman hourly wage | $49.50 / hour |
|---|---|
| Total package (wage + fringe benefits) | $75.92 / hour |
| Annualized at 2,080 hours (base wage) | $99,000 / year |
| First-period apprentice (≈45–50% of scale) | $22.28–$24.75 / hour |
| Wage sheet effective | 10/21/22 |
| Classification | Combo |
A Local 4 apprentice in West Boylston, MA starts at roughly $22.28 an hour — about 45% of the $49.50 journeyman scale — and steps up each period, reaching around $37.13 an hour by the fourth year and full scale on turning out. These are the standard percentage steps of scale, not a wage sheet Local 4 has published; confirm the exact schedule with the JATC.
| 1st period (year 1) | 45% of scale | $22.28 / hour | $44,550 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd period (year 2) | 55% of scale | $27.23 / hour | $54,450 |
| 3rd period (year 3) | 65% of scale | $32.18 / hour | $64,350 |
| 4th period (year 4) | 75% of scale | $37.13 / hour | $74,250 |
| 5th period (year 5) | 85% of scale | $42.07 / hour | $84,150 |
| Journeyman (turned out) | 100% of scale | $49.50 / hour | $99,000 |
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Local 4 wages: $49.50 an hour on the journeyman scale, $75.92 an hour with fringe benefits added, effective 10/21/22. That is the most recent West Boylston, MA sheet we can source; rates move with each contract cycle, so confirm with the hall before quoting.
Roughly 35% of the UA Local 4 package is employer-paid benefits and fringes rather than wages, which is why the package figure and a take-home hourly rate are not the same number.
Download the UA Local 4 pay scale (PDF) — one-page printable rate sheet, effective October 21, 2022.
| Benefit & fringe contributions | $26.42/hr | Derived: total package minus base wage. This is the employer's combined hourly contribution to the funds, not take-home pay. |
|---|---|---|
| What the contributions fund | Health & welfare, pension, annuity, training and industry funds | Standard fund categories in mechanical and electrical agreements. The exact split between funds is set in the local's agreement — the hall or fund office publishes the schedule. |
| Paid on | Every hour worked | Fringe contributions are made per hour worked, so they scale with dispatched hours and are paid to the funds rather than to the member. |
The rates above are the UA Local 4 scale used across the West Boylston, MA area. Members dispatched out of this hall work commercial mechanical and process piping, chiller and boiler work, HVAC piping and hydronics and service, retrofit and shutdown work for signatory contractors throughout the West Boylston metro, so a pipefitters wage quoted locally is normally this scale plus the fringe package shown in the table.
Gulfstream recruits pipefitters talent for commercial mechanical, plumbing, piping, sheet metal and building automation contractors in and around West Boylston. We are a private recruiting firm — we do not dispatch, set, or negotiate Local 4 rates. For current West Boylston scale, dispatch standing, or apprenticeship intake, contact the hall directly.
UA Local 4 runs its own referral procedure and books are signed at the hall — call 508-835-1150 to confirm dispatch hours, required documents (union card, certifications, ID) and current list standing before traveling in. Contact details are imported from the UA, SMART and IBEW public directories. Gulfstream is a private recruiting firm, is not affiliated with the local, and does not control hall dispatch.
United Association Local 4, headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts, represents skilled plumbers and pipefitters across the Central Massachusetts region. Since 2014, Gulfstream Strategic Placements has monitored the labor dynamics within this local, which serves as a critical hub for high-precision mechanical work. The membership consists of journey-level craftspeople and apprentices who support the region's essential infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, educational institutions, and industrial plants. By maintaining high standards for licensing and safety, Local 4 ensures that signatory contractors have access to a reliable workforce capable of executing complex piping systems and mechanical installations that meet rigorous Massachusetts state codes.
The Central Massachusetts market is characterized by a mix of historic revitalization and modern institutional expansion, particularly in the life sciences and higher education sectors. UA Local 4 plays a pivotal role in this landscape by providing the specialized labor required for laboratory piping, high-pressure steam systems, and advanced HVAC infrastructure. For contractors and tradespeople, understanding this local’s influence is vital for navigating the competitive bidding environment and ensuring project stability. The union's commitment to continuous training through its JATC facility allows it to adapt to evolving building technologies while maintaining the traditional pipefitting and plumbing excellence that has defined the Worcester trade community for decades.
Based on the schedule effective October 21, 2022, the journeyman hourly rate for UA Local 4 stands at $49.50, contributing to a total package of $75.92 when fringe benefits are included. This comprehensive package covers health, retirement, and training allocations. Apprentices in the five-year program follow a structured wage progression based on a percentage of the journeyman rate. Typically, first-year apprentices start at approximately 40% to 50% of the scale, receiving incremental raises every six to twelve months as they complete required classroom hours and on-the-job milestones. By the fifth year, senior apprentices earn the highest percentage of the scale before testing for their journey-level license. This model ensures that labor costs remain predictable for signatory mechanical primes while rewarding the increasing proficiency of the workforce.
The jurisdiction of UA Local 4 is centered in Worcester County and extends throughout the heart of Central Massachusetts. This territory includes major urban centers and surrounding municipalities where the union holds exclusive bargaining rights for plumbing, pipefitting, and refrigeration work under the Master Agreement. Members are dispatched from the Worcester hall to job sites ranging from large-scale municipal projects to private industrial renovations. The charter ensures that all piping work, including process piping, medical gas systems, and hydronic heating, falls under the local's oversight. For contractors, this geographic clarity is essential for determining which collective bargaining agreement applies when traveling crews across county lines or between different UA local territories in the Commonwealth.
The signatory landscape for UA Local 4 includes a robust mix of 12 tracked contractors, ranging from large-scale mechanical primes to specialized plumbing service firms. These organizations rely on the local's hiring hall to scale their workforces according to project demands, particularly during peak construction cycles in the Worcester area. The mix includes industrial piping specialists who handle heavy process work and mechanical contractors focused on commercial HVAC and institutional plumbing. Hiring typically follows the dispatch rules outlined in the CBA, ensuring that contractors receive qualified personnel with the specific certifications required for high-stakes environments like hospitals and research laboratories. This collaborative environment fosters long-term stability for the regional mechanical construction industry.
Local 4 prioritizes high-demand certifications including ASME pressure vessel welding, medical gas installation, and OSHA safety standards. The JATC also provides training for the Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber and Pipefitter licenses. These credentials ensure that members are qualified for work in regulated environments such as biotech labs and healthcare facilities, which are prevalent throughout the Worcester and Central Massachusetts corridors.
Members of Local 4 can often work in the jurisdictions of neighboring UA locals through the 'traveler' system if local work is slow. Benefits are typically managed through reciprocal agreements, ensuring that health and pension contributions made while working out of town are funneled back to the member's home funds in Worcester. This system provides workforce mobility while protecting the member's long-term retirement and healthcare stability.
Yes, Local 4 includes a strong contingent of HVAC service technicians. The apprenticeship and continuing education programs offer specific tracks for refrigeration, controls, and system diagnostics. This allows signatory contractors to staff both large-scale construction projects and long-term service contracts with technicians who are proficient in high-efficiency boilers, chillers, and complex building automation systems required by modern commercial clients.
A standard work week consists of 40 hours, usually scheduled as five eight-hour days. Overtime rates, typically time-and-a-half for extra hours on weekdays and Saturdays, and double-time for Sundays and holidays, are dictated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. These structures ensure fair compensation for the demanding schedules often required during hospital shut-downs or rapid-response industrial repairs common in the Worcester mechanical market.
UA Local 4 is seated in West Boylston, Massachusetts (MA). We hold published wage sheets for 9 locals across Massachusetts — compare nearby scales before you take a call.
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We are a mechanical, plumbing and electrical construction recruiting firm serving West Boylston and the rest of Massachusetts, including contractors signatory to UA Local 4. Our office is in South Corona, California and we place union-scale tradespeople and field leadership nationwide.
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Journeyman scales as last published by each local. Rates change every contract cycle — confirm with the hall.
The Local 4 pay scale is $49.50 per hour for journeymen in West Boylston, MA, or about $99,000 a year at 2,080 hours. The total package, including employer-paid fringe benefits, is $75.92 per hour. That is the last wage sheet we can source for this local — confirm the current rate with the hall.
Journeyman pipefitters under the UA Local 4 agreement make $49.50 an hour in base wages, or $75.92 an hour counting the fringe package, per the wage sheet effective 10/21/22. Overtime, shift premiums, and travel or subsistence pay are added on top under the local's CBA.
$49.50 per hour base wage and $75.92 per hour total package for a journeyman in West Boylston, MA, effective 10/21/22. Annualized at 2,080 hours that is roughly $99,000 before overtime.
A Local 4 apprentice in West Boylston, MA starts at roughly $22.28 an hour — about 45% of the $49.50 journeyman scale — and steps up each period, reaching around $37.13 an hour by the fourth year and full scale on turning out. These are the standard percentage steps of scale, not a wage sheet Local 4 has published; confirm the exact schedule with the JATC.
About $22.28 an hour, or roughly $44,550 a year at 2,080 hours, based on the standard 45% first-period step of the $49.50 journeyman rate effective 10/21/22. Apprentices also earn benefit contributions and paid classroom progression; the JATC sets the exact percentage.
Around $32.18 an hour at the standard 65% third-period step, moving to about $37.13 an hour in the fourth period and $49.50 an hour at full journeyman scale. Confirm the published step schedule with the Local 4 training center.
Local 4 wages: $49.50 an hour on the journeyman scale, $75.92 an hour with fringe benefits added, effective 10/21/22. That is the most recent West Boylston, MA sheet we can source; rates move with each contract cycle, so confirm with the hall before quoting.
Yes — a one-page printable UA Local 4 rate sheet is available at /rate-sheets/ua-local-4-pay-scale.pdf, showing the $49.50 hourly scale, the $75.92 total package and the 10/21/22 effective date, with the source it was read from. It is a free download — no sign-up needed.
The current UA Local 4 journeyman rate is $49.50/hour, with a total package of $75.92/hour including fringe benefits, effective 10/21/22. At 2,080 hours that works out to roughly $99,000 per year in base wages before overtime. Rates change with each CBA cycle — confirm with the Local 4 business office before relying on the figure.
The $49.50/hour figure is the base journeyman wage that lands on the paycheck. The $75.92/hour total package adds employer-paid fringes — health and welfare, pension, annuity, apprenticeship training, and industry funds. Contractors bid work off the total package, so that is the number that matters when comparing plumbers & pipefitters labor costs across locals.
Apprentices under the UA Local 4 agreement are paid a graduated percentage of the journeyman rate, typically starting near 40–50% in the first period and stepping up each six-month or annual period until reaching 100% at turnout. Against the current $49.50/hour journeyman rate, a first-period apprentice would be in the $22.28–$24.75/hour range. The exact percentage schedule is set by the local's JATC.
UA Local 4 is headquartered in West Boylston, MA and dispatches plumbers & pipefitters manpower throughout its chartered jurisdiction. Work performed inside that territory falls under the local's collective bargaining agreement and wage schedule, even when the contractor is based elsewhere and travels in.
Most locals require applicants to be at least 18, legally able to work in the U.S., hold a high school diploma or GED, pass a basic math/aptitude assessment and a drug screen, and be physically able to perform plumbers & pipefitters work. Some Local 4 programs give preference to applicants inside the jurisdiction or to veterans. Eligibility rules are set by the local's Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC), so confirm the current criteria with the hall before applying.
Apprenticeship applications go through the UA Local 4 JATC, not through a contractor or a recruiter. Applications typically open in defined intake windows each year: you submit the application with proof of age, education, and residency, sit for an aptitude test, and then interview. Ranked applicants are placed on an eligibility list and indentured as signatory contractors call for apprentices. Gulfstream Strategic Placements does not process apprenticeship applications — contact the Local 4 training center directly.
Plumbers & Pipefitters apprenticeships generally run four to five years — roughly 8,000–10,000 hours of on-the-job training plus several hundred classroom hours per year. Apprentices earn a paycheck the entire time, stepping up through the wage periods until they turn out as journeymen at 100% of scale.
Signatory contractors hire through the local's hiring hall, so working under the UA Local 4 agreement generally means being a member or being organized in through the local's process. Journeymen from other locals can travel in by signing the out-of-work book, subject to the local's referral rules and manpower needs. Non-union plumbers & pipefitters professionals are usually placed with open-shop contractors instead — we recruit for both.
Rates move with the collective bargaining agreement, typically on a fixed anniversary date each year of a three- to five-year contract, with negotiated increases split between the base wage and the fringe package. The figures on this page reflect the 10/21/22 schedule; check with the Local 4 business office for any increase that has taken effect since.
We track 12 signatory contractors working under the UA Local 4 agreement, listed on this page with their websites and LinkedIn pages. Signatory shops are the employers legally able to hire Local 4 members and pay the negotiated scale.
Wage rates vary widely by local and market. Use the Union Pay Scale Explorer to sort every UA and SMART local by hourly wage, total package, and annualized pay so you can benchmark Local 4 against neighboring jurisdictions and other plumbers & pipefitters markets.
The UA Local 4 hall is at 150 Hartwell St West Boylston, Ma 1583, serving West Boylston, MA and the surrounding jurisdiction. Hall phone: 508-835-1150.
UA Local 4 runs its own referral procedure and books are signed at the hall. Call the hall at 508-835-1150 to confirm dispatch hours, required documents (union card, certifications, ID) and current list standing before traveling in — Gulfstream does not control hall dispatch.
UA Local 4 can be reached at 508-835-1150. Contact details are imported from the union's public directory listing — confirm hours with the hall.
$49.50/hr in base wages for combo, or $75.92/hr counting employer-paid benefits and fringes, effective October 21, 2022 per the unionpayscales.com wage sheet.
October 21, 2022. Source wage sheet is over three years old and a new CBA cycle is likely in force. Use only as a historical baseline — pull current rates directly from the local before quoting.
No — the $49.50/hr base is wages only. Employers contribute roughly $26.42/hr more per hour worked to health and welfare, pension, annuity and training funds, which is the difference between the base and the $75.92/hr package.
No. Gulfstream Strategic Placements is a private mechanical construction recruiting firm. We are not affiliated with the local, we do not run dispatch, and we do not set or negotiate union rates. We publish the local's own sourced figures as a reference for members and contractors.
Stale — verify — last cross-checked against the source on Sep 1, 2026 (13 days ago). Always confirm the current step with the hall before relying on it for an offer.