Electrical Technician vs. Electrical Distribution Technician?

[wangman]

Hi guys,

To my understanding, the civilian counterpart to 309A Construction Electrician is the Electrical distribution trade, whereas the 442A Industrial Electrician counterpart is the Electrical technician trade. My question is: Why do electrical technicians receive specialist pay while electrical distribution technicians don't?
As far as I'm aware, specialist pay takes into account the level of danger involved with the work as well as the demand on the civilian side. Given the 309A license being presumably all-encompassing in comparison to the 442A, would the Electrical distribution trade not warrant specialist pay, or is the danger level so great, as an Electrical technician, that only the latter is deserving of it?

After doing some research of my own using "site: army.ca", I haven't been able to find any answers to satisfy my curiosity. I would greatly appreciate any insight or thoughts from existing/former members.

 

[McG]

Specialist pay is about skill, not danger.

Within the construction trades (Army and Air Force), the trades do not cleanly align with any civilian occupation ... There is always something extra and something missing because the trades were designed to match military as opposed to civilian requirements.

ED Tech is camp power distribution and home electrician.  ED Tech does not do power generation or electric motors; generation is done by an EGS Tech.  Maybe the Navy's E Tech might be a job requiring more breadth or depth of skill.

 

[Navy_Pete]

With some minimal extra work, once they've gotten to a certain point in their training, the E Techs can become licensed as industrial electricians after completing the qualification exam(at least in NS).  In the Navy, they are responsible for all the power generation and distribution systems on board (aside from the actual engines), so there is a lot of training and relevant experience.