Unions, which cite their long-term investment in training, are scaling up numbers and depth of trained welders. The plumbers and pipefitters union, known as the United Association (UA), says that, since the 1990s, it has trained and certified some 45,000 welders in a program it claims is accepted by owners such as BP, Entergy and Shell Chemical and contractors such as Bechtel, Fluor and Black & Veatch.

The union every year also hosts week-long training for 2,000 local instructors at an AWS-certified, Ann Arbor, Mich., site. The training site was expanded in 2012 to include "40 different welding courses, from prep to shielded metal-arc welding to remote wire-feed video welding," says union training specialist Randall Gandy.

The UA also is monitoring how developing laser-beam and friction-stir welding processes can be adapted into training. They "are faster and cut down on residual stress in weld joints," Gandy says, but notes that their expense and limited application is "not feasible for contractors" now.

The ironworkers' union, which spends $60 million a year on all training, now has 104 AWS-accredited sites in the U.S. and 12 in Canada, says Ed Abbott, a general organizer who manages welding instruction. There are more than 12,000 welding-certified union members in the U.S. and nearly 5,600 in Canada, he says.

The union says it gained 4,537 new welding certifications and saw more than 2,000 ironworker members newly certified last year in a competition held among its locals. He says certifications are transportable among jobs and avoid expensive retesting.

"The market is demanding a higher-skilled person," Abbott says. "Discontinuities in a critical weld can cost big money." The union is providing grants to locals to replace outdated welding equipment still used in training.

The union also preps workers to pass the tough AWS test to be certified weld inspectors. "It was the most difficult test I ever took," says Abbott of the 7.5-hour exam that structural engineers help to develop. "The structural welding code is 2.5 inches thick." He says that certification must be renewed every nine years. Abbott sees the need for more certified welders and inspectors in California as its $68-billion high-speed-rail line gets underway.

Katrina Kudzia, a veteran union ironworker welder in Michigan, echoes the certification push. "Our contractors want to see that paper," she says, noting job referrals from employers or peers who know her certifications are in order.

"It's becoming more common for individual projects to have on-site, full-time inspectors, and welders may get tested, regardless of their certifications." Welders also may have to "sign" their welds for daily inspection, adds Kudzia. Welds are photographed and catalogued. "There's less and less room for any kind of incontinuity in your welds," she says.

Pipe Realities

Daniel C. Hendrix, business manager of Pipeliners Union Local 798 in Tulsa, says he has "more than enough" skilled welders for the Keystone pipeline, even as its construction start remains unclear, due to a potential presidential veto. But he notes that, with most oil-and-gas pipeline stock dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, "there are far more board-certified cardiac surgeons available than there are competent, experienced pipeline rig welders."

New and replacement pipelines use harder materials and require advanced welding skills. "More and more, the industry will see a shift to low-hydrogen processes to join pipe," he says, adding that these are already in use for work such as sleeving and segment replacement to ensure repair strength.

"Moving forward, welders will have to be proficient in hand-held wire, such as inner shield and flux core as well as heli-arc and automatic processes," says Hendrix. The union does not allow any welding to be performed by other than certified journeymen welders. Training is the key to competency and market share."

Local 798 completed a $5.5-million training center that now has three classes a year to prepare about 40 welders for competency tests. Welding equipment makers such as Lincoln Electric and Miller Electric Manufacturing also use the center to research new welding electrodes and equipment before fieldwork, which Hendrix says benefits even those companies that dont support the center or the union.

In Georgia, accelerated union welding training programs now are entering their fifth year as Vogtle plant construction progresses, says William McMillan, business manager of ironworkers' union Local 709 in Savannah—although the union is not providing apprentices for the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion in Jenkinsville, S.C., which is non-union.

Four-year welder apprenticeships require 200 annual hours of in-class or lab training, with the rest on the job. But rookie welders are being put to work right away; first-year apprentices typically earn starting wages of 60% of a journeyman's scale, says McMillan.

Rice, of the Augusta UA local, sees "quite a few college graduates coming back and training for a new career."

The ironworkers' local, which also trains workers for nuclear-related work at the federal Savannah River Site complex near Aiken, S.C., emphasizes a custom approach to train up veteran welders to nuclear standards.

"If they've got some welding skills, we're going to work with them as long as they can come to us until we get them where they need to be," says McMillan. Because of work schedules, some welders have taken up to eight months to become nuclear-certified. Others have met the requirements in less time.

"The majority of welders are proving to be well prepared for the rigors and expectations that come with skilled craft jobs, especially those associated with the highly technical nature of nuclear construction," says Kimberly D. Flowers, vice president of engineering for project co-sponsor Southern Cos. "Morale and performance at Plant Vogtle has remained positive."