Journeyman pipefitters under UA Local 9 in Central New Jersey, NJ earn $45.23/hr in base wages, or $72.34/hr as a total package with fringe benefits, effective Jun 2024.
UA Local 9 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 9 pay scale is $45.23 per hour for journeymen in Central New Jersey, NJ, or about $90,460 a year at 2,080 hours. The total package, including employer-paid fringe benefits, is $72.34 per hour. That is the rate in force, effective 6/12/24.
| Local 9 journeyman hourly wage | $45.23 / hour |
|---|---|
| Total package (wage + fringe benefits) | $72.34 / hour |
| Annualized at 2,080 hours (base wage) | $90,460 / year |
| First-period apprentice (≈45–50% of scale) | $20.35–$22.62 / hour |
| Wage sheet effective | 6/12/24 |
| Classification | HVAC Service Tech |
A Local 9 apprentice in Central New Jersey, NJ starts at roughly $20.35 an hour — about 45% of the $45.23 journeyman scale — and steps up each period, reaching around $33.92 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 9 has published; confirm the exact schedule with the JATC.
| 1st period (year 1) | 45% of scale | $20.35 / hour | $40,707 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd period (year 2) | 55% of scale | $24.88 / hour | $49,753 |
| 3rd period (year 3) | 65% of scale | $29.40 / hour | $58,799 |
| 4th period (year 4) | 75% of scale | $33.92 / hour | $67,845 |
| 5th period (year 5) | 85% of scale | $38.45 / hour | $76,891 |
| Journeyman (turned out) | 100% of scale | $45.23 / hour | $90,460 |
UA Local 9 runs its own referral procedure and books are signed at the hall — call 732-792-0999 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 9 represents highly skilled plumbers and pipefitters across the Central New Jersey region, maintaining a jurisdiction that spans critical industrial corridors and suburban growth centers. Based in Englishtown, this local provides the specialized labor force required for the state's significant pharmaceutical, healthcare, and educational infrastructure. The market is defined by rigorous code compliance and the technical demands of high-pressure piping systems. Members are trained to handle everything from complex medical gas installations in hospital expansions to heavy industrial process piping in the region's manufacturing plants, ensuring that essential mechanical systems operate safely and efficiently.
Since 2014, Gulfstream Strategic Placements has monitored the labor dynamics within Local 9 to assist contractors and tradespeople in navigating this competitive mechanical landscape. The Central New Jersey territory is strategically positioned between the Philadelphia and New York City hubs, making it a vital area for regional energy projects and commercial development. Signatory contractors here rely on the local's Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee to produce a steady stream of licensed journeymen who are proficient in welding, brazing, and advanced BIM coordination. This commitment to training maintains the high standards necessary for the large-scale mechanical projects that drive the local economy.
As of the September 22, 2023, wage adjustment, the journeyman hourly rate for UA Local 9 is set at $54.99. When factoring in the comprehensive benefits package, the total hourly compensation reaches $97.82. This total package includes significant employer contributions to health and welfare, pension, and annuity funds. Apprentices enter the program at a percentage of the journeyman rate, typically starting around 40% to 45% and receiving scheduled incremental raises every year or every 1,000 hours of work completed. These steps are contingent upon both successful on-the-job performance and the completion of related classroom instruction. By the fifth and final year of the apprenticeship, workers earn a high-percentage rate that closely nears full journeyman scale, reflecting their increased proficiency in the piping trades.
The chartered jurisdiction for UA Local 9 covers several key counties in Central New Jersey, ensuring a unified labor standard across diverse municipalities. This territory includes densely populated commercial zones and essential industrial sites where pipefitters and plumbers manage high-stakes installations. The local's dispatch office manages work assignments throughout this region, enforcing the terms of the collective bargaining agreement regarding travel pay, zone differentials, and shift work. Members are expected to mobilize across the central portion of the state to service signatory contractors engaged in new construction, facility maintenance, and large-scale renovations. The jurisdiction encompasses all aspects of the piping industry, including HVACR service, plumbing systems, and specialized industrial piping applications.
The contractor landscape within Local 9 is composed of a diverse mix of large mechanical primes and specialized service firms. These signatory organizations range from national industrial piping contractors to regional plumbing and HVAC providers that handle the state's commercial infrastructure. Hiring activity is often driven by multi-year projects in the healthcare sector and renovations within the pharmaceutical research corridor. Because the Central New Jersey market demands high technical proficiency, contractors frequently seek journeymen with specific certifications in orbital welding or medical gas. The relationship between the union and its signatory partners ensures that labor costs remain predictable while maintaining a high level of jobsite safety and productivity.
UA Local 9 represents a broad spectrum of piping professionals, including licensed plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters. Their members work on diverse systems ranging from residential plumbing and commercial drainage to complex high-pressure steam systems and industrial process piping. They also provide specialized training for HVACR service technicians who maintain climate control systems in large-scale facilities across Central New Jersey.
The apprenticeship is a five-year program that combines rigorous on-the-job training with classroom instruction at their Englishtown facility. Apprentices work full-time for signatory contractors while attending school during the evenings or on designated days. This dual-track approach ensures that by the time an apprentice reaches journeyman status, they have mastered both the theoretical physics of piping and the practical skills of the trade.
Yes, experienced plumbers and pipefitters can join through a process often referred to as 'organizing' or 'lateral entry.' These individuals must typically demonstrate their skill level through a combination of work history verification and practical testing. Depending on their experience, they may be placed at a specific apprentice level or admitted as full journeymen after meeting the local's competency requirements.
The hourly wage ($54.99) is the gross amount paid directly on the member's paycheck before taxes. The total package ($97.82) includes that wage plus the additional $42.83 per hour that contractors pay into fringe benefits like health insurance, pensions, and training funds. This distinction is critical for contractors when calculating true labor costs and for members when evaluating their total compensation.
UA Local 9 is seated in Central New Jersey, New Jersey (NJ). We hold published wage sheets for 12 locals across New Jersey — compare nearby scales before you take a call.
We are a mechanical, plumbing and electrical construction recruiting firm serving Central New Jersey and the rest of New Jersey, including contractors signatory to UA Local 9. Our office is in South Corona, California and we place union-scale tradespeople and field leadership nationwide.
Gulfstream Strategic Placements, 4160 Temescal Canyon Road, Suite 401, Corona, CA 92883. Phone (951) 208-7780. Email hello@gulfstreamsp.com. Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM–5:00 PM Pacific.View our verified Google Business Profile
Journeyman scales as last published by each local. Rates change every contract cycle — confirm with the hall.
The Local 9 pay scale is $45.23 per hour for journeymen in Central New Jersey, NJ, or about $90,460 a year at 2,080 hours. The total package, including employer-paid fringe benefits, is $72.34 per hour. That is the rate in force, effective 6/12/24.
Journeyman pipefitters under the UA Local 9 agreement make $45.23 an hour in base wages, or $72.34 an hour counting the fringe package, per the wage sheet effective 6/12/24. Overtime, shift premiums, and travel or subsistence pay are added on top under the local's CBA.
$45.23 per hour base wage and $72.34 per hour total package for a journeyman in Central New Jersey, NJ, effective 6/12/24. Annualized at 2,080 hours that is roughly $90,460 before overtime.
A Local 9 apprentice in Central New Jersey, NJ starts at roughly $20.35 an hour — about 45% of the $45.23 journeyman scale — and steps up each period, reaching around $33.92 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 9 has published; confirm the exact schedule with the JATC.
About $20.35 an hour, or roughly $40,707 a year at 2,080 hours, based on the standard 45% first-period step of the $45.23 journeyman rate effective 6/12/24. Apprentices also earn benefit contributions and paid classroom progression; the JATC sets the exact percentage.
Around $29.40 an hour at the standard 65% third-period step, moving to about $33.92 an hour in the fourth period and $45.23 an hour at full journeyman scale. Confirm the published step schedule with the Local 9 training center.
The current UA Local 9 journeyman rate is $45.23/hour, with a total package of $72.34/hour including fringe benefits, effective 6/12/24. At 2,080 hours that works out to roughly $90,460 per year in base wages before overtime. Rates change with each CBA cycle — confirm with the Local 9 business office before relying on the figure.
The $45.23/hour figure is the base journeyman wage that lands on the paycheck. The $72.34/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 9 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 $45.23/hour journeyman rate, a first-period apprentice would be in the $20.35–$22.62/hour range. The exact percentage schedule is set by the local's JATC.
UA Local 9 is headquartered in Central New Jersey, NJ 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 9 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 9 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 9 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 9 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 6/12/24 schedule; check with the Local 9 business office for any increase that has taken effect since.
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 9 against neighboring jurisdictions and other plumbers & pipefitters markets.
The UA Local 9 hall is at 2 Iron Ore Rd At Rte 33 Englishtown, Nj 7726, serving Central New Jersey, NJ and the surrounding jurisdiction. Hall phone: 732-792-0999.
UA Local 9 runs its own referral procedure and books are signed at the hall. Call the hall at 732-792-0999 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 9 can be reached at 732-792-0999. Contact details are imported from the union's public directory listing — confirm hours with the hall.