Power plants are some of the most complex systems designed by man, but they all make use of Michael Faraday’s 1821 discovery that mechanical energy in a magnetic field can produce electricity.
Likewise, the intricate, zero-room-for-error work required to keep generating facilities running relies on the skills of each individual doing that work. And in an era when every nickel is squeezed, and squeezed again, leveraging the investment the United Brotherhood of Carpenters makes in its members’ skills makes sense—and dollars.
“When I talk to contractors, they often ask me a fair and simple question: ‘Why should I hire a UBC millwright over someone else,’” said Dale Shoemaker, senior technical coordinator at the Carpenters International Training Center and a millwright himself.
It might be a simple question, but becoming a UBC millwright is anything but simple.
For work in the power generation industry, UBC millwrights receive 160 hours of training split between the classroom and the shop floor to develop the technical skills and professional attitude that contractors demand. Areas of emphasis include safety, rigging, and familiarization with the tools and situations they’ll encounter on the job.
Once millwrights have completed the UBC certification, an additional eight hours of bolting and torquing earn millwrights a Hytorc-bolt qualification, while 45 hours of coursework in both gas and steam turbines hones expertise within each of those specialties.
William Finley, Atlantic Plant Management’s Ohio Valley operations manager, attributed the company’s success in serving the power generation industry to using the skills of those card-carrying millwrights.
“When considering what you are getting when you use union millwrights, you must consider the value you get for the unit price you pay,” he said. “You pay more using UBC millwrights, but the additional pay returns a great deal more through all the skills and training that comes with them.”
Finley said this is most evident when outages for plant maintenance go as planned: safely, on schedule, and with little or no rework.
“Our members know that the best way to stay employed is to make sure that these plants start making electricity—and money for their owners—as safely and quickly as possible,” Shoemaker said.
To date, the UBC has trained tens of thousands of millwrights to expertly install, maintain, and repair power equipment. By partnering with leading vendors of specific equipment and tools used in the field, UBC training gives hands-on experience with specialized types of bolts, gaskets, and tubing.
Shane Voiles, a four-year member of Local 1554 in Chattanooga, Tenn., credits his UBC training with making him a better, more productive millwright.
“When we go out for a contractor on turbine work, everything we’ve done in training we’ll do on the job.”
After completing a long list of prerequisites back home, Voiles recently took the five-day GE Gas Turbine Qualification Training class at the International Training Center in Las Vegas. The unique weeklong training, which stresses professionalism as well as technical skills, gave Voiles increased confidence to tackle future projects.
“It made me understand more fully how a turbine works and also gave me more skills on how to work on a turbine.”
With more than a $175 million annual budget, 2,500 full-time instructors, and 250 centers across North America—including the state-of-the-art International Training Center in Las Vegas—the UBC’s affiliated training programs offer the finest skills-development courses for millwrights and scaffold erectors in the construction industry.
“Overall, when you add up the bottom line, the undisputable truth is that, with their ever-increasing skill sets, union millwrights are the best deal,” Finley said.