John, this is a very touchy subject. Union vs. Non-union. As a disclaimer I run a non-union shop and have never been in the union. Around here most shops are non-union. I have an ex-employee who went union, he says the union will pay something like $25/hr after a time and he is happy with the training. I also have union guys calling my shop all the time trying to get out because they only work 50% of the year. Our non-union shop never works less than 40 hours/week, every week, but we don't pay as much. I guess it all depends on what you want.
I also don't know if I would start this field at 40, in fact at 35 I wouldn't go back in the field if I had to get a job again.
