Concrete laborer out of work but company refuses to lay off legaladvice

First things first, this is a long story. Secondly I'm writing from ohio. So to start I should probably mention I have no idea if I'm in a union or not. That sounds strange but hear me out. I was definitely not in a union before I got an offer to work with this company they hired me on via referral and I started the next day no mention of anything union. I show up to sites and everyones wearing 310 laborers union and 17 ironworkers etc patches so I turn to the guy who reffered me and he confirmed that everyone in house is union when I got my first pay stub I noticed theyre taking out a sum every week for what is labeled "union" mind you I have never taken a drug test signed any books taken any apprenticeship classes of any kind I'm just a guy who knows how to do stuff. I havn't made a stink about it because the money is good and I'm a fan of having food and beer in my refrigerator. They currently pay me at the top end of a laborers pay scale. I mean I'm worth it but from what I understand you typically have to work up to that sort of thing. So I don't really want to screw this up because the money is good when I'm working. But on the other hand I'm fairly certain I don't have benefits/pention/PTO protections/anything union workers get. If I call up the hall are they going to investigate and ruin this cash cow for me?

But back to the matter at hand. I have been out of work for about 2 weeks now and I'm not getting any kind of heads up as to when ill be going back. This typically happens every winter when you work concrete but the problem is not so much I'm not working its more that they havnt laid me off so I can apply for unemployment/ know that I need to find other work. Currently my fiance is paying the lions share of the bills because I'm only working weekends to keep my availability open. Typically they call the night before or sometimes the morning of for work. So my question is this; Can I just file for unemployment anyways without a notice of being laif off, or am I stuck waiting at the mercy of the weather or some bozo in the office to relieve me?

Tldr; No work but no layoff keeping me in limbo draining bank account, and union dues being taken but no union protections.

Submitted January 08, 2018 at 12:41PM by Idrkwhat http://ift.tt/2ADVjlJ legaladvice