welder

crane operator

laborer

industrial painter

industrial mechanic

NATIONAL STEEL CAR

Hot summers, Dry cold winters, Either 3 rotating 8h shifts, two 8h shifts or 12 hour shifts of work. Depending on your position.

Fast paced, dirty and incentive driven, an over all collective team work production line, you are just a small part of a larger 'machine'. 

Experience is almost always overlooked from previous work. But in house training is available (CWB, TSSA are not recognized within' the company). 
Hard work rarely pays off, as it is a  union seniority based company, newer employees get discouraged by lay offs, which has a trickle down effect, result is a hire and fire company 'protecting' seniority members. 
Union and management politics are everywhere, sons, nephews, etc beat lay offs over seniority members. Management will think of any excuse to compromise some workers future in the company. 

Work itself can be tedious, but wages are high and fair, after completion of certain amount of hours you are put into the union ranks, and acquire a good benefits package, after a completion of 2000 hours you get a near 6 dollar raise. 
Co-workers are hit and miss, some are fun, energetic, and humble people, others might not say a word or come across as arrogant.

Management distances themselves from workers, foremen are rarely seen on the floor, supervisors choose favorites, and union reps are generally no-where to be found. 

Safety is sub par, as you'd imagine in a high density industrial environment it can be hazardous. Safe practices are overlooked for production speed, lead hands rarely promote safe work environment and almost never lead by example as they are to worried about losing their position to a harder working employee.

Lay offs are always looming over workers who have not been in the door for more than five years, seniority members rarely pull their weight due to this. 
Over all, good wages, good benefits, and if you tough out the lay offs and accept that you will be working with an aging work force this can be a place for long term work.

A typical day at work would never really be considered typical anywhere else. Although it was a manufacturing job there was versatility in the jobs which were available as well as which machine you were stationed at for the duration of your shift. This led to a love of self discovery and learning. I operated several different types of press including mechanical and CNC brake presses The labour staff and management are very friendly, helpful, and understanding to the follies of new employees. The hardest part i found with the job was being on a three shift rotation, never being able to develop a routine outside of work, also due to the rotation there was always a not huge, but, consistent amount of clutter around the machines; though it did not interfere with job performance.I found the most enjoyable part of the job was learning to make new products and how to use new machines. As well as developing new programs for "new" and test components on the CNC presses. Also, the piecework system at NSC perpetually drove me to do better, faster, and smarter in my everyday work and developed my skills as a responsible employee.

A typical day at work involved mitigation of conflicts and disconnects between production schedules and material availabilities, cost estimates and vendor pricing.
I learned the best way to achieve an objective is to allow your staff and co workers to be the best that can be and picking up the phone and talking to people is more effective than exchanging reams of paper when trying to resolve an issue. 
Management is efficient in a highly competitive industry. Cost conscious but people oriented. Progressive, firm, forward looking.
Co-workers were extremely competent, team players, always willing to take that extra step.
The hardest part of the job was essentially the challenges noted above but we were prepared to deal with them daily.
The most enjoyable part of the job was seeing the product ship to our customers on time, meeting specs and  knowing that you had played a major role in that event.

This is a very dangerous, dirty place to work in ! You start off at a reduced wage $17/Hr as compared to a unionized employee $28 / Hr, doing the exact same work side by side for 1000 Hrs OR 6-7 months !!
       If the production orders last until this time comes up, management will either lay you off / fire you / let you in the union.... Management usually just lays these employees and hires the next round of workers to work at this reduced rate to maximize company profit !!  I've worked here, I know !! 
       Even if management does like you and allows you to join the union, a lay-off is inevitable and they usually last for over extended periods of time (Your EI Benefits run out before re-call !). 
        In Summary..... If you like working in a dangerous, dirty environment, with a multi-ethnic community surrounding (No English), where you work at a reduced rate for 6-7 months and then your laid-off, this is the place for you !!

My experience at National Steel Car was mixed, but overall disappointing. While the job provided exposure to industrial work and hands-on experience, there were serious safety and management issues that affected my time there.
I witnessed unsafe behavior on the job, including some employees appearing to be under the influence of substances. This created a stressful and unsafe working environment. Safety rules were not consistently enforced, which made it difficult to feel secure while working.
Management was poorly organized and lacked proper oversight. Communication was often unclear, and concerns were not always addressed seriously. This negatively impacted morale and productivity.
With better leadership, stricter safety enforcement, and improved workplace culture, this company could be much better.

*When they have a contract


Depending on the line, lead, supervisor and foreman you can have a decent to a great time working here.

Little to no real job security, even if you're in the union if you somehow end up on their radar (injury, for example) they'll somehow find a way to either bully you out or push you out some other way.

Most supervisors do little to nothing and the ones that do usually end up on the radar as well.
Most foreman aren't too bad until they get irritated (and some have very short fuses)

Worst in my opinion, health and safety is a joke. Their version of health and safety is bandage you, give you a T1 or two if you're moaning about it enough and send you home if it's that bad; but that puts you on their radar as well.

Shifts are either 12 hours 3 on 2 off or 8 hours with rotations of days and afternoons.

Wage is fair 16.80 a hour with incentive of 21 dollars if you meet quota, once in union all long weekends are paid for and time off at Christmas is also paid for.

Wage caps at 27 for a welder once completing 2000 hours, with peice work.

Layoffs do suck but with the amount steel car has hired within the last year you hardly see layoffs. You take your few layoffs when you start and once your of value your ok.

Management is helpful but their is always issues, of seeing who's Co** is bigger. Lots of swearing and cruising and childish antics go on.

Environment is dirty, smoking isnt allowed in the facility but members do get away with it.

Unhealthy environment to work, lots of smoke and noise, very fast paced because it's paid piece-work and they have quotas to do daily, so everyone is rushing to finish their quota, skipping safety procedures , then if accidents happen they blame you for not applying those safety procedures. Everyone stabs you in the back so they can advance. If you are not part of the management, the management abuse you, if you are part of the management , everyone else hates you.
Good money and benefits, but most of the people who worked there 20 years or more...die early!

In addition to the typical daily work of approving layouts, drawings, bills of material, specifications,etc..the continuous request from other departments for Engineering support generally makes the day interesting and unpredictable.  The constant short lead times for processing new orders creates a difficult work environment not suitable for all.

everyday i would weld the entire interior of one compartment of a multi compartment hopper rail car. an inspector would check all welds and other details of interior and mark what needed repairs. i would fix all repairs so the car was ready to move forward down the line. This position on the line i worked generally had me working all day non stop outside of my allotted breaks so it made the day go by quickly and it was challenging work which is very rewarding.
They require no experience in welding and i had none prior to starting so i got to learn how to weld and then gain years of welding experience.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Welder 1 salary reported	$24.85 per hour
Crane operator 2 salaries reported	$23.70 per hour
Laborer 1 salary reported	$22.03 per hour
Industrial painter 1 salary reported	$25.44 per hour
Industrial mechanic 1 salary reported	$33.29 per hour

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