Most of the welders we work with come from our local and some are iron workers as well. That said not all of them are both. Some come from the boiler makers hall and some are pipe fitters. The fact that this is Kearl and that there are lots of jobs closer to Edmonton means that a lot of these guys come from other provinces where they aren't blessed with as much work.
We are not the only trade on site. There are electricians working through Integral. There are millwrights working through their hall. I think they are working setting up the cladding which forms the outside walls of our building. But the ones we work the most closely with are the scaffolders.
Scaffolders build scaffolding. They are a separate trade through the carpenters union which makes sense when you consider that scaffolding used to be made out of wood and held together with nails. It's now made from aluminum tubes of various lengths which are held together with these cool little brackets that pop on an off quite easily. They also have floor pieces and stair pieces. For the most part the scaffolding is pretty ingenious and looks kind of the way it would if it was designed by Ikea.
We work inside the surge bins whose walls you could never get up without the scaffolding. The scaffolders work in little pods of organization that flow smoothly from work zone to work zone erecting and tearing down scaffolding at a pretty amazing rate. They remind me a lot of ants as they just go, go, go.
With any scaffolding project the first step is moving in the materials that they will need. They do store some tubes and things in the bin but most is outside somewhere. So they form a pod on the ground and another on the surge deck and they handbalm the stuff to the edge of the surge in much the same was buckets of water used to be passed along when fighting a fire. Then using gin wheels or rigging ropes it is pulled up to the surge deck where the process repeats itself in order to move the stuff into the actual bins themselves.
The scaffolders are kind of unique amongst the trades as they all dress the same way. They are provided with medium blue coveralls with the reflective green stripes sewn right onto them. This adds to the appearance of ant-like proficiency. You can always tell the scaffolders from everyone else on site and when you need them they are easy to find.
We work closely with the scaffolders so we feel as if we are part of the same big crew. We keep them working and they do the same for us. Because we work closely with them we share a lot of small talk and as a result we get to know them pretty well. They work the same shift as us as well which adds to the feeling of oneness amongst us.
Scaffolding in a neat trade with lots of busy work but none of it too seriously heavy or difficult. As a result there are some older guys working in the trade and a fair number of women. Their life is wait-wait-wait then carry-clamp-hammer or hammer-unclamp-carry. Their trade works side by side with ours symbiotically and as far as I can tell everyone is happy about it. We transform the structure and they transform the spaces beside it. I for one appreciate the scaffolders!
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