Things are heating up at the plumbers and pipefitters' union local in Augusta, Ga., and it isn't just the members' welding tools. The union is running full tilt to train welders now in short supply to fuel the region's industrial and energy-sector construction boom.
Apprenticeship training at Local 150—a key labor supplier to the multi-billion-dollar Plant Vogtle nuclear powerplant expansion project 28 miles away in Waynesboro—is a six-day-a-week operation, extending to 13 hours some days.