About Us

Originally started to bring decent wages and working conditions to a trade which had neither, Local 32 has also brought many other benefits over the years. Benefits such as training opportunities, medical and retirement plans not to mention dignity, respect, and an equal seat at the table of our industry are all proof that when pipe trades workers pull together, we have a positive impact on our industry.

Our members are career professionals. As skilled craftsperson’s we take pride in being professional, productive, and profitable for our contractors. The key to being professional, productive and profitable can be attributed to our training, work ethic and dedication to our crafts. UA Local 32 dedicates over 4 million dollars per year to training its apprentices and journeypersons. We believe that top-notch training and work ethic carries over to each and every job or project we are working on.

Every member of UA Local 32 takes pride in our Standard for Excellence which states:

To ensure the UA Standard for Excellence platform meets and maintains its goals, the Local Union Business Manager, in partnership with his implementation team, shop stewards and local membership, shall ensure all members:

• Meet their responsibilities to the Employer and their fellow workers by arriving on the job ready to work, every day on time. (Absenteeism and tardiness will not be tolerated.)
• Adhere to the contractual starting and quitting times, including lunch and break periods. (Personal cell phones will not be used during the workday with the exception of lunch and break periods.)
• Meet their responsibility as highly skilled craft workers by providing the required tools as stipulated under the local Collective Bargaining Agreement while respecting those tools and equipment supplied by the Employer.
• Use and promote the local union and international training and certification systems to the membership so they may continue on the road of lifelong learning, thus ensuring UA craft workers are the most highly trained and sought-after workers.
• Meet their responsibility to be fit for duty, ensuring a zero tolerance policy for substance abuse is strictly met.
• Be productive and keep inactive time to a minimum.
• Meet their contractual responsibility to eliminate disruptions on the job and safely work towards the on-time completion of the project in an auspicious manner.
• Respect the customer’s property. (Waste and property destruction, such as graffiti, will not be tolerated.)
• Respect the UA, the customer, client, and contractor by dressing in a manner appropriate for our highly skilled and professional craft. (Offensive words and symbols on clothing and buttons are not acceptable.)
• Respect and obey Employer and customer rules and policies.
• Follow safe, reasonable, and legitimate management directives.

United Association Local 32-Seattle was chartered by our parent Organization, The United Association of Journeyman and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA), in August of 1889. With over 277 UA Locals in the United States and Canada, this organization's locals represent over 350,000 pipe trades workers. Workers just like you. The members of the UA are the best paid and most skilled workers in the construction industry.

At Local 32, we believe that the security of our future in the pipe trades lies in three areas:

• Training – Our industry is constantly changing and we have to keep up with the latest technologies. Some of the systems and methods being used today cannot be properly executed with just a little on the job training. We must keep our skills honed and meet every new method head on.
• Organizing – Democracy in the workplace is a good thing. When people are allowed to have their say it challenges them to be their best by giving them a vested interest in their jobs. Organized workers set standards for the entire industry. These standards allow workers to be more than transient workers – they become professionals. Organizing pipe trades workers is good for the workers, good for the bosses, and good for the industry.
• Political Action – There are people out there that believe that working folks in this country have made too many gains.  We need to mobilize our working folks who built - and continue to build - our communities to support issues for our continued benefit.