by Marty Rice, 
Welding Instructor - Dale Jackson Career Center; Iron Workers Local #263

Mick pulled his collar around his neck and cursed the wind. He’d called it “the Hawk” when he was on the E. German border.  He remembered those long, cold nights pulling guard duty with the wind blowing like crazy.  Literally thought he’d go crazy a couple of times there, he mused to himself. He wondered if there was such a thing as “crazy cold syndrome.”

On those nights he’d sworn he’d never be cold again. Yet here he was, at a powerhouse in the middle of nowhere, “the hawk” blowing like crazy, and him cold to the bone.  One big difference though, at 4:30 he would be in a nice warm van carpooling home.  And when he got home he’d spend a good half hour in a nice, hot shower.  In the Army half the time the showers were lukewarm to cold.  Now, every time he felt that precious hot water he rejoiced, even ten years later. 

“Dang Mick, I can’t feel my fingers or toes!” Harry hollered over the wind.  “What’s next…is my brain going to go numb too?”

“I think that happened a long time ago Harry.” Mick laughed making a funny face while circling his finger around the side of his head in the universal crazy sign. 

“Yeah?” Harry scowled, “well at least I have a brain!”

“I can’t argue with that one.  If I had a brain, I wouldn’t be welding up here in this howling cold wind!” Mick agreed. 

“Jay wants you to take that new apprentice and fix the knee brace on the top north-east corner.”  Harry knew Mick wasn’t going to like that. Jay said it had been welded up solid about a foot away from where it was supposed to be.  No one likes fixing someone else’s screw up. 

“What kind of pusher (see note) sends his hand to the top of the *#@*%# building on a freezing cold day like this?” Mick hollered.  “There’s all kinds of stuff we could be doing out of this wind.” 

“Well there is one good thing about it.” Harry smiled. 

“Yeah? What’s that?” Mick gamely asked. 

“It ain’t me having to go up there. And by the way, Jay said hurry up, and to make sure you do it right. Maybe you need the boss to go with you and supervise.”  Harry was laughing so hard at his own jokes he was halfway crying.  “Dang, my tears are freezing!” he noticed.

“Go back and tell him that I was doing this stuff when he was in a diaper sleeping in a dad gummed crib!” Mick yelled.  Out in the field you might be a hand on one job, then a pusher on the next.  Sometimes you found yourself working for someone half your age.  No big deal if they knew their stuff, and respected those who’d been out in the trade awhile. But that wasn’t always the case, and this pusher was a wisenheimer that didn’t know how to lead his men.  It was his first time running a gang and all he did was complain about how slow everyone was.  A few comments like that and moral was getting really bad.  A good welder is proud of his or her work, and they don’t cotton to being criticized when they know they’re doing a good job. 

Mick hollered for Jorge, the apprentice, to get his tool belt on, and they jumped on the outside elevator for the trip up top.  “Why the heck you working up top on a day like this?” Larry, the operating engineer running the elevator, asked?

Mick just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.  “Ask Jay. He’s the all knowing, all wise one around here. How the heck do you keep from freezing to death in this thing?” 

Larry spent the whole day running workers and materials up and down the side of the building.  After Iron Workers put the skeleton up on a structure, they start hanging ladders and stairs.  Elevators don’t come in until towards the end of the job.  Before all that, the Iron Workers climb up and down columns going from floor to floor.  Going down is easy, but going up is another story, especially with 35 + pounds of tools hanging on their belt!

“Heck, it ain’t even cold yet.” Larry laughed.

“You’re either tough, crazy, or stupid!” Mick shot back. 

“Put me down for all three.” Larry smiled. He was one of those guys who were always smiling. It was good working around people like that. 

It seemed to get colder with every floor heading to the top, and Mick was dreading what lay ahead.  First they would have to literally hang upside down on a beam, and crawl out to the edge of the structure.  A load of steel sat directly above where they needed to go, so they had to approach the edge from the floor underneath.  This meant walking out on a four-inch beam while pushing a basket they would hang to work out of.  A scary operation on a nice sunny day, this wasn’t going to be fun.  The top five floors were nothing but beams, so it was a sea of steel and open space for five floors, then another twenty-two with partially finished floors down to the bottom. 

He could tell Jorge was nervous, but was impressed to see him step off of the elevator without hesitating.  Although a bit unsure, he managed to walk the beams with ease.  Some guys freaked the first time they worked up high.  Many people say they aren’t afraid of heights. Seems they always say that on the ground.   

Sometimes Mick was so scared he would be promising all kinds of behavior changes to the MAN upstairs.  Other times he was thanking HIM for the view.  His first job was both scary and exciting at the same time.  An old hand told him everyone has a natural fear of heights, but that fear can be overcome. Mick had overcome that fear, but every now and then he’d get that sick feeling in the pit of his gut, and wished he’d become a Doctor like his Mom told him!

Mick knew Jorge wasn’t going to be able to crawl out to the edge, but was impressed that he was willing to do so.  He grabbed the tape and crawled out hanging upside down like a bat.  After they got the measurement, he crawled back and asked what it was. 

“Twelve feet, three inches, and a few of those little dealies.” Jorge innocently replied.

“WHAT the heck are little dealies?” Mick hollered.

“Those lines there.” Jorge pointed at the sixteenths, eights, quarters and half-inch lines.

“You don’t know how to read a tape?” Mick’s mood was going downhill.

“They haven’t taught us that yet.” Jorge said apologetically.

“Here, you’re taking the dumb end this time.” Mick said grabbing the tape and handing Jorge the end as he again crawled out. Now his shirttail had come out and the wind was going right up his back.  “I think I’m coming down with that “crazy cold fever” he thought to himself.

When he got there he couldn’t believe his eyes.  He measured a second time, then a third.  The brace was right where it was supposed to be.  He climbed back and looked at the print to be sure and there it was right on the money. 

“Come on Jorge,” Mick smiled a smile that showed both joy and orneriness, “we’re gonna’ have us a talk with the boss!”  “On second thought, you might want to go see if you can help Harry. No sense us both getting fired.” He laughed as he headed to the elevator. 

As Mick started to go into the pusher’s shack, he noticed Jorge was right behind him!

NOTES

Pusher – the foreman.  They are in charge of a specific gang, or crew, on a big job. There is also a job steward who acts as treasure for dues, takes complaints, and acts as a mediator between management, the union, and the workers.

Hand – the Iron Workers, the people doing the job.  A good hand is someone who is dependable, hard working, gives 8 hours work for 8 hours pay, and has pride in their work.  They do it right the FIRST time.

Gang – or crew. On big jobs there are several gangs with different numbers of hands.

Raising Gang – hook on, connectors.

Welding Gang – duh…welders.

Plumb Gang – plumb and level columns and beams.

Bolt up Gang – after connectors connect beams, they put 2 bolts in the connecting point.  The bolt up gang puts in the rest of the bolts, and then rattles (impact wrench) them tight. 

Miscellaneous Gang – They do the misc. stuff like stairs, catwalks, and small finish-up jobs.