The question is in the title

I’m from Quebec, journeyman, non-union is illegal in Quebec, so we have to choose one of 5 unions, and something like 95% of IWs are with a union hall that, conicindentally is called “l’Inter. I say this because we pay 2 dues, 1 to our home union (L’Inter, official name is something longer) and we pay 32.50 or something separate that goes to ‘Washington’. Not everyone pays this due to Washington, but we were always told that paying this secondary fee allows us to work everywhere in Canada. And, yes, I’ve worked everywhere (97, 771, 725, 765, etc). Usually it’s always (be it from a company who gets work outside Quebec or the hall itself) “are your dues up-to-dafe” and then the hall in wherever, BC, SASK, etc says “ok, come”

All this, what is the point of Red Seal? We never used to have it when I started 15 years ago (Quebec and a few other provinces didn’t have it, but now, i think all of Canada does). Do Canadians need Red Seal for inter-provincial mobility, maybe?

Why does someone get their Red Seal, if they can just become a Journeyman through whatever process each individual province has? Unless something has changed as of late, i have never needed a Red Seal to work in different locals across Canada. On 2 jobs, it was required but HR never followed up after orientation (we just show our Quebec card, our different province-specific tickets (working at heights, aerial platform, ecc ecc) and we work

In Quebec, Rebar is a totally different trade, IWs and Rodmen are two different trades, trade school diploma, etc and if I’m not mistaken the Red Seal needs you to know rebar, cranes, etc (or is that not true)?

I've been doing structural steel fabrication for almost 3 years in Michigan, fitting, fabricating, and welding (mig). I specialize in building stairs and railing, but I can do structural when I don't have any stairs to build. Our shop doesn't do any field work, we send the stuff we build to union ironworkers who install it. I've only been to the job site once, and it seems like a really cool job. I've thought about making the switch from fitter/fabricator to iron worker. It would be cool to know how to install the things I've built. Would my experience as a fitter/fabricator give me a leg up in the field?