Resi Electrician wanting to go Union Questions

UPDATE: I had my interview at Local 124 this morning and it went really welll. No I play the waiting game. Thanks for all of the encouragement!

I'm currently a residential electrician with 6 years of experience in Kansas City, MO and I am wanting to join Local 124. I'm tired of worrying about not having retirement, working till i'm 70 and making a good wage. I really don't know where to begin with the questions that I have so I thought i would just post them here.

I currently make $21/hr with no benefits aside from pto. Is anyone here a member of Local 124 and has an idea of what I potentially would make or would my experience not really come into play with my potential hourly earnings?

I was reading last night about some locals not paying for the required schooling and union members having to get jobs on the weekends, do side jobs, collect scrap copper, etc. and basically just getting by. This has me concerned as I don't know whether or not that is typical.

As a residential electrician what other possible job positions would be available to me as I mainly work on panel upgrades, service calls and remodels?

Are weekends and overtime expected or does that vary shop by shop?

I may have missed something in the sidebar about the questions I'm asking but I didn't see anything about it so I went ahead and posted.

Tl;dr i have a few questions about joining the union. Should I just call my local and ask them there?

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Thanks in advance!

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