The birth and growth of the Boilermakers Union in the 19th century goes hand-in-hand with the birth and growth of the United States and Canada. Emergent industries needed to harness steam, transport people across the nation, as well as power a growing manufacturing sector. Skilled craftsmen were in demand.
As the 1800s chugged along, industry’s need for higher pressure vessels increased. The use of steam power expanded, as well as the need for craftsmen who could build boilers. Designs became more complex, and the need to build safe and practical vessels grew more specialized. During this time, boilermaking had evolved into its own craft, requiring precise skills and creativity to meet the ever-growing challenge for more powerful machines. Ships, trains, and plants to power the two nations required the skills of boilermakers.
While the uses of steam power grew, so did the demands of workers for fair working conditions and a fair wage. The 19th century proved a tumultuous time for workers’ rights, so the working class turned to forming unions to increase their power and influence. After the Civil War, boilermakers began to organize in earnest. At the time, a boilermaker earned around $30 for a 10-hour day. Workers did not have health insurance, pension, or paid holidays. Children were working 10- and 12-hour days. Safety on the job was also of little concern to employers.
Two different unions of boilermakers formed—a Chicago group and one in the south. In 1893, the two groups merged to form the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders. Through subsequent mergers, the union today stands as the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, AFL-CIO.
While it’s not recorded when boilermakers began working in field construction, by the early 1900s, members were building the Los Angeles Aqueduct. During the last century, members, along with other crafts, even worked on the Panama Canal.
As the 20th century progressed, the union continued to support working people by joining with other unions to bring about an end to child labour. Boilermakers fought for and won wage protections, safety on the job, and the eight-hour workday, to name only a few safeguards that organized labour brought into existence.
During the free world’s fight for liberty in the Second World War, and with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s new deal, members went back to work after the Great Depression and increased the union’s membership to meet the needs of war production—especially in shipbuilding. Even then, the union’s fight for workers’ rights continued.
Today, we as Boilermakers construct, fabricate, weld, assemble, install, erect, alter, maintain, repair, dismantle, demolish, and test steam generators, boilers, economizers, air heaters, de-aerators, induction draft and forced draft fans, tanks, pollution control devices and systems, duct systems, furnaces, reactors, water towers and reservoirs, penstocks, scroll casing, stacks, and other related components and parts, as well as their access structures and assemblies, including all types of structural and plate work on dust, air, gas, steam, oil, water and other liquid-tight containers. Boilermakers work from engineer-approved drawings to fabricate components from steel or other materials. We calculate, select, and attach rigging and work with cranes and other hoisting devices to lift components into place. The systems must be tested for leaks and other defects and deficiencies to ensure they are operating safely and efficiently.
Our work is performed indoors and out, and may be at extreme heights or underground. Our work environments can expose us to hazards and conditions such as vibration, excessive noise, fumes, confined spaces, extreme temperatures, radiation, asbestos, and all kinds of other toxic environments. Boilermakers possess good hand-eye coordination, mechanical aptitude and manual dexterity. We also possess a full range of knowledge, abilities, and skills required of the trade including an understanding of mechanical drawings along with mathematical aptitude. We require strength and stamina to work with heavy components and equipment that are even hard to describe. It is common in our trade to travel for work opportunities, thus all boilermakers must be able to adapt to frequently changing work environments and cultures. It is also common to work long hours and many consecutive shifts. With experience, boilermakers may act as mentors and trainers to apprentices in the trade. They may also advance into supervisory position, quality assurance inspectors, and safety personnel.
In the potash industry specifically, we work on bag houses, evaporators, crystallizers, as well as repair and maintain shakers, compactors, rotary dryers, fluid bed dyers, boilers, and heaters. We fabricate and install tanks and drums made from metal, as well as fiberglass. We work on conveyers and dust collection systems, product elevators, hoppers, chutes, bins, and scrubbers. We get to see the intricacies of the processes in which potash is refined into a marketable entity. We are an essential part in maintaining the potash mining and refining process. Potash is notoriously hard on equipment and without the boilermaker to repair, fabricate, and replace as needed, it would be a process that is next to impossible to sustain.
Visiting International Brotherhood of Boilermakers – Local 555
