Welding Tips and Tricks

It looks like I'm going to Georgetown, SC for a shutdown.

An old friend I've worked for before asked if I'd like to make $2100/wk. Just how can I say "no" to that?

I have to figure out how to handle it at the job I have now--I don't want to burn that bridge, but I can only give a week's notice.

I'm considering asking for a leave of absence, with the intent being raising enough cash to quit living in a POS camper trailer. (Just in case this one shutdown is all I get.) However, if this Co. can keep me busy six months each year, I'll make over twice what I'm currently paid.

Decisions, decisions.

I'll entertain anyone's opinion on this.

Steve

I definately wouldnt want to burn your bridge you got now. The company you end up workin for may suck balls, you may not like your crew/foreman. And ill definately tell ya, they say a job lasts for 6 months? They usually start layin off after 3.

Good luck bro Make alot of money and have alot of fun. Im lookin to hit the road myself here in a couple weeks.

Well, kerm,

It looks like I still haven't burned this bridge, even with just under a week's notice.

This is shutdown work, so it'll be 7/12s for three to eight weeks at a time. (Eight weeks, this time out.) I'm confident there is more work behind this job, as I know about a third of the crew, and the boss, personally and we can rock-n-roll together. The economy is the wild card here.

If this co. can keep me busy during both shutdown/TA seasons, I'll have a lot of free time and a pocketfull. If not, this one shutdown will resolve several debt issues and allow me to quit living in this P.O.S. camper after two years, and my current job will have me back.

I think this is becoming a "win-win" situation.

So, what do you have going? You said you're getting on the road soon?

Steve

Ya Im workin on getting my weld certs through my union hall. They got alot of work for welders on the road, but the weld shop is packed and you gotta reserve a spot. My wife's cousin is also getting married next weekend. And I'm also lookin at some plumbin work in texas.

So Im still in a holding pattern till next week, then I can actually start lookin for work on the road for real. Just been half ass'n it for the last 6 months or so, waitin for work to pick up around here. Went from 687 to 508 in 9 months on the out of work list. Crappy eh?

[quote="kermdawg"... Went from 687 to 508 in 9 months on the out of work list. Crappy eh?[/quote]

Well, at least the number is moving in the right direction.

Steve

Oh, and I can't help myself, kermdawg,

I won't have to weld test for this power plant either.

I might not even have to pee for them. (doubt it, but possible.)



Steve

Wow. Just wow.

Guess that means your gettin stuck weld'n clips to back to backs eh?

lol.

Thats pretty crazy, cause like I said before, I gotta pass 3 tests before I can go out as a welder, and then a gate test which is who knows what.

Well, the reason I won't have to test for this job is that I already have two years' experience with this boss; He knows what I can do. And yes, the job won't require a lot of skills. I expect mostly 7018 on structure. Probably welding some clips, too

I was joking about the pee test. I'm sure site safety will want it on file.

The "gate test" you mentioned is probably just a general site safety test, probably after your "site specific" safety orientation. You can pass this in your sleep. I once had a safety man hand me the test with all the answers filled in, and all I had to do to pass was sign my name. (I had gone from one site to another with the same co. and my safety cert was still valid.)

Steve

It always seemed to me like union jobs needed more certs. I think its becuase unions are sorta like closed economies, in which there is ussually a lack of work and a surplus of labor, creating an enviornment in which one needs many, many certification to obtain employment.

Non union work seems to require a little less paperwork. I said paperwork, not skill.
some people put this off as union workers being better then the rest, but I never felt any smarter after i passed yet another weld test.

-Rick

Nah, by gate test I meant a job-specific weld test. You have to have your certs, but you also have to past a job-specific "gate" test for the job. It works like this-Union certs are differant from the AWS certs, but you still have to have the AWS certs to weld on the job. So the union is like the "pre" test you only have to take/pass once, but you also have to qualify for each job you do.

Ive been on alot of jobs, and sat through alot of safety orientations. Ive never had to take a safety test :p I dont even think I took a test when I got my OSHA 10 card. Just 10 hours of long, boring talk mixed in with horrible stories. Seems we all know someone that's been horribly injured/maimed/killed in the field.

Edit-

I think its becuase unions are sorta like closed economies, in which there is ussually a lack of work and a surplus of labor, creating an enviornment in which one needs many, many certification to obtain employment

I dont think I've ever seen it put so perfectly Rick. You also need a contact list a mile long :p(which sucks for me cause I have yet to build such an extensive list)

Well, here goes...

In about three hours I hit the road for SC for a shutdown.

It nearly broke my heart to shake hands with everyone at work today after I loaded my tools.

I was fine 'till Edie, our secretary/purchasing agent hugged me.

Damn.

I hope this change accomplishes everything I chose this job for.

Steve

Wow, the Union is WAY different in the US than it is here in Australia. We join the union if we want to. There are some closed shops but it is technically illegal. The union is there to support workers. They don't have anything to do with finding and or supplying work to members. The main welders union is the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. They try to help us and lobby the Government to get work done here instead of importing from Asia. Also providing support with safety and pay - condition negotiation and complaints. Solidarity.

Interesting. I almost think it would be better that way here.

In the unted states, it differ form state to state. Some states have legislation preventing a closed shop, and some don't.

Union differ as well. Some unions have a "hiring hall" system, which means that a worker reports to a union hall for work, with the business manegers job being to find work for the worker.

Others strickly deal in negotiation, safety, working conditions and things like that.

I tend to call the first type"trade unions", becuase usually these types of unions employ construction trade workers.
I call the second type"industrial unions" becuase usually these types of union are made up of manufacturing and production type workers. If not then they organize the wokers of very large industries(railroad, shipyards, airports, ect).

Kermdog,

I was joking, but;

I've been here over three weeks and haven't taken a piss test. I've never been on a job quite like it. They are doing randoms, and one guy got busted out. Probably got comfortable when there wasn't a pre-employment screen. I'm not concerned for our crew, as I know all of them, but I wonder about some of the people I encounter.

The job has been very productive, and there have been only very minor injuries, despite the number of green hands.

I was just stunned, though, that I saw neither a weld test or UA when I showed up.

Steve

Good luck up there

Be safe,

-Rick

Ya be safe bud.

Thats nuts, no piss test, no weld test...Really makes me wanna get on one of these jobs, they must be desperate if their not even piss testin, but hell man, so many hands out of work you would think you would want to at least weed out the pot heads :p

Well, I'm home with all the parts I left with, which amazes me. Safety was a joke on this job and there were a LOT of green hands.

I never did have to pee for them.

We managed to finish a week early, despite our crew having about 160 hrs of rework (night shift had some people who should have taken a weld test, and a supervisor who wasn't checking their work) and about 120 hrs of T&M extras. We were pretty well bowed up for all but the last week, and brought in two extra hands.

What do you bet there's no bonus for finishing early? This happened to me before. We finished a distiller's grain dryer building six weeks early, and our bonus was about a week's pay. We'd have done better to milk the job 'til the deadline.

I'm also pretty sure this is the last shutdown of the season, so unless they throw me some maintenance work I'll be doing something else all summer.

I have at least been told I'll be a foreman on the next job with this co. so I'll have a little more control over what goes on around me.

Steve

Good for you steve. Happy to know you made it out in on piece.

-Rick