Yes, a friend of mine is a union crane operator, and he makes about double. He gets sent all around the country to operate special cranes. One time he operated the crane that moves the major section of a nuclear reactor (can’t remember which part) for the yearly cleaning. He said that the load was so big, and the process so slow, that you could hardly perceive that the thing was moving.
Back in the early 90s the guys who operated the cranes at ports that pick up containers off ships made $125,000 a year and up in the SF Bay Area. Highly skilled workers with very expensive equipment and loads.
I would guess it would start and end at the same time as for other construction workers–so they are in fact being paid for a significant amount of time just waiting around until they are needed.
I can’t help thinking there’s more than a grain of truth in this article.
There’s probably a punch clock, or modern equivalent, at some point on site that all the employees use. Since it’d be on the ground, you’d have to clock in before climbing up to the cab, and clock out after climbing back down.
Things have improved since the days of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.
[Quote=PBS]
Good Money
When construction started, in January 1933, union wages ranged from $4 to $11 per day (about $45 to $125 per day in 2004 dollars). Workers clocked in when they reached their work sites – the 30- to 40-minute climb was on their own time. Despite the obvious risks, a job on the bridge was considered a plum. Cable supervisor Charles Kring recalled, “there was always somebody waiting at the base of the tower for someone to fall off so they’d get a job.”
[/quote]
Technically, he had a panic attack while in the crane cab and crawled out onto the jib, requiring us to fly the air ambulance up to get him. 
If he had been in the tallest crane on the site, such that we couldn’t go up and get him with the air ambulance, he might still be up there, ten years later.
Well i got a little bored sitting but mostly standing (My crane was a stiff-neck) where i stood behind the controls, but i did love my job.
I would jump down and help with all kinds of things when my hook wasn’t needed unlike many crane jobs where one would not want to be caught outside the cab.
Hell I would let the crew know where I was and go pull nails or pick up nails on jobs when i wasn’t hooked up.
Answered already. But on a non-union job you might run into all kinds of different pay options.
When i ran my crane I would do most of my jobs at a minimum witch was $250.00
and I could do almost any roof jobs in that minimum AND i always stopped the clock for bracing up a roof. Even then some contractors wouldn’t brace up until i pulled out. Those were stressful days!!
I’m a maintenance planner/scheduler and I have to work with cost accounting on some jobs so that they schedule high cost employees at certain times to make projects come in under budget. NCCER ( National Center for Construction Education and Research) certified operators in non-union areas make between $25-45 per hour, depending upon a number of factors. Union operators make (on average $10-20 per hour) also depending upon a number of factors, but they have to have union dues deducted from those wages.
A person making $100 per hour (if it happens) would have to be a specialist who is operating an unusual type of crane for very specific projects. It’s doubtful that this person works daily earning that amount; more likely than not they are a contractor who travels to jobs.
Are you saying that nonunion crane operator’s are paid more than union? That would really surprise me, if true.
I meant that union workers make MORE.
I’m unable to edit my post now.