A September 2002 graduate of Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, Brad Wendel won the United Association Ohio State Apprenticeship welding competition in April 2007, claiming a $500 cash prize along with a welder.  He was competing against fifteen other professional welders in Ohio. 

“We are very proud of Brad,” says Mike Knisley, Business Manager of Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Service Technicians Local 776 Lima, Ohio.  “It is such an honor to have him representing Local 776!” 

Brad next moved on to regional competition in Pittsburgh in June as Ohio’s competitor against welders from seven other states where he placed second.  This competition is followed by the national contest in August in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

Brad graduated from Fort Recovery High School and Tri-Star Career Compact, under welding instructor Todd Smith, before attending the Combination Structural and Pipe Welding Program at Hobart Institute.  He is currently employed as a maintenance welder, doing primarily TIG welding of stainless and nickel alloys and some shielded metal arc welding of carbon steel, through Fluor Maintenances Services at Proctor & Gamble’s largest liquid soap manufacturing facility that is located in Lima, an area that is heavily populated by petro-chemical industries.   Brad completes his UA apprenticeship training in October.  

“The UA has really been good for me,” says Brad.  “They look out for their people and really treat them well.”

“Hobart Institute provided a jump-start for my career with the UA,” Brand continues.  “It gave me an advantage and I was able to by-pass a portion of the apprenticeship training.”

“Hobart Institute graduates have an opportunity to move to the front of the line with the United Association,” says Knisley.  “Many of our top apprentices are HIWT grads.  Their skills are recognized across the country at over 300 UA Locals in the U.S. and Canada.” 

“Graduating from HIWT and becoming a member of the UA were the best things that ever happened to me in my professional career,” continues Mike, who was a 1979 graduate of HIWT. 

Hobart Institute and other private schools have been visited by representatives of the UA Training Department to assure that curriculums and entry requirements are consistent with UA apprenticeship standards and acceptable to the International Pipe Trades Training Fund.  The UA is actively involved in welder recruitment and makes frequent visits to Hobart Institute to test students, seeking the best of the best. 

The UA is taking a giant step toward securing the market of properly trained and certified welders.  The UA initiated the recruitment program to enhance normal apprenticeship entry, local union organizing efforts, and to further strengthen the United Association’s position in the construction market.  The UA is currently experiencing a shortage of hundreds of welders nationwide and expects this shortage to increase dramatically.  This shortage of welders and other specialty skilled tradesmen represents a critical problem for the UA and signatory contractors.  An industrial boom is beginning and the problem of manning UA jobs will increase significantly.  Whoever provides the welders will control the mechanical piping industry market.

The core group of Journeymen that make the UA contractors so successful are in their mid-forties.  Over the next ten to fifteen years, these members will be moving into well-earned retirement.  The UA must plan for the time when these craftsmen are no longer available.  During the past two years, 10,000 first-year apprentices entered training each year.  Over the next three years, the UA will be training 50,000 men and women.  This impressive number of apprentices will barely keep pace with retirements, deaths and attrition of present-day Journeymen. 

The recruitment of skilled workers is a viable means of increasing the UA pool of talented people.  The UA is a dominant force within the construction and service industries, driven by a well-trained and growing workforce.  The program is successful because it offers more than a good job – it offers a career and life-long learning.  Apprenticeship and training, organizing and recruitment are powerful tools that will insure a strong future for the United Association in the years to come. 

Credit may be given by the UA for training received through vocational welding training programs.  Completion of the 9-month Structural and Pipe Welding Program at the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, coupled with successfully passing the UA welding tests, can shorten the candidate’s apprenticeship program in the UA as much as two years to those who qualify.  The normal apprenticeship program is five years.  Following Hobart training, that time may be less.  Hobart graduates who can document at least five years of experience may be placed as Journeymen within the United Association.

Hobart Institute graduates who are interested in the UA Welder Recruitment Program may contact UA Special Representative Randy Ward at 1-202-628-5823 - ext. 259 or randyw@uanet.org.