Welding is a viable option for women seeking life-long career
Three women talk
about career, need
for more females in
sheet metal industry
B Y TIFFANNIE BOND
When it comes to sheet metal
welders, the adage “anything you can
do, I can do better” isn’t a phrase of
competition or ego. Women welders in
the industry are the minority — by far
— but a few of them are looking to
show their male counterparts that when
it comes to their craft, the question of
who is the most talented is a toss-up.
Three women from across the
United States took to welding at differ-
ent times in their lives, all through the
International Training Institute (ITI),
the education arm of the unionized
sheet metal industry.
Misty Whaley of Conyers, Georgia,
is a single mom who wanted to provide
for her family. Irais Gandarilla of Port-
land, Oregon, always wanted to create
metal sculptures, and she found a ca-
reer she loves in the process. Rachel
Koon of Charleston, South Carolina,
followed her husband into the sheet
metal industry and found her steady
hands helped her earn a living at a ca-
reer she enjoyed.
Although different, they each share
a passion for welding as well as the em-
powerment and challenge it brings to
them, not to mention the innate ability
to not sit still.
“Women are known for paying at-
tention to detail, and we’re not in a
rush,” Whaley said. “It takes patience.”
Koon’s steady hands and patience
have proven priceless in her newfound
career. She participated in the compre-
hensive welding program, an intense
three-week class meant to fast track
welders for large multi-year projects in
the Southeast.
“A lot of women, when they think of
this, they think it’s hot and sweaty and
dangerous. It’s very safe,” said Koon,
22, who grew up on a farm and isn’t
afraid of hard work and dirt. “It’s a
great way to support your family, and I
think if other women gave it a chance,
they’d enjoy it as well.”
Gandarilla, 30, meets once a month
with other female sheet metal workers
as a sign of solidarity and sisterhood. In
the fourth year of the industry’s five-
year apprenticeship program, she takes
every opportunity to learn and explore
her creative side.
“We’re trying to break into a male-
dominated field. Many guys think sheet
metal is a man’s job, and it is, but it’s a
woman’s job, too,” she said. “Every
time I go to the training center, I know
I’m going to get to fabricate and build.
I love it. It’s dirty work, but I love it. For
me, I’ve always wanted to build metal
sculptures. I’ve always liked putting
metal together to create art.”
Another similarity of these three
women is they are all currently work-
ing. Gandarilla is working on the new
high school in Sandy, Ore.; Whaley
works as the only welder in the shop at
Perimeter Sheet Metal in Georgia; and
Koon is in the fabrication shop at Inter-
Mech in South Carolina.
With large projects coming up in the
Southeast, as well as smaller jobs
across the rest of the country, welding is
a viable skill that can open doors to
work, said Steve Kowats, quality assur-
ance manager and industrial specialist
for the ITI.“Someone from the local
community needs to recruit women and
prepare them for welding in the trade,”
Irais Gandarilla of Portland had a creative mind for sculpture, and in the process of learning to weld to satisfy her
creative side, she found a career she loves. She is currently in the fifth year of her apprenticeship program at Sheet
Metal Workers Local 16.
Kowats added. “From my experience,
women generally tend to approach any
job with more forethought and are less
likely to rush into the task as many men
I have taught and worked with do. This
isn’t to say that jumping in and getting
it done does not have a place, which
can be a lesson for anyone entering the
construction trade — when to contem-
plate and when to get busy. Welding
lends itself to careful planning.”
All three female welders said they
would like to see more women in the
industry, especially in welding, but they
don’t think many know it’s a viable op-
tion.
“As a woman, I’m taking these
amazing skills and applying them to a
real job, real pension, real benefits. I
can’t believe I can do this,” Gandarilla
said. “Every day I walk away in awe.
It’s hard work, but it’s fun. I can’t sit be-
hind a desk. If other women find them-
selves saying ‘I worked on a project in
the garden or at home,’ and they walked
away from it feeling good, they need to
be looking into this trade.”
Currently the unionized sheet metal
industry offers a three-week intensive
training program in South Carolina to
entering non-members who would like
to shift careers. Applications can be
downloaded online at www.scsheetmet-
alworkers.org. Once the application is
submitted, qualified applicants must
pass an entrance exam to be accepted
into the program. Currently, there are
approximately 140 welding positions to
fill due to long-term federal projects in
the southeastern United States. The
training center is finishing up the last
concentrated welding program for the
year. A new schedule for 2012 is cur-
rently being worked out and wasn’t fi-
nalized at press time.
More than 15,000 apprentices are
registered at training facilities in the
United States and Canada. The ITI is
jointly sponsored by Sheet Metal
Worker’s International Association and
the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning
Contractors’ National Association. Lo-
cated in Alexandria, Va., ITI produces a
standardized sheet metal curriculum
supported by a wide variety of training
materials free of charge to sheet metal
apprentices and journeymen.
For more information about ITI,
visit www.sheetmetal-iti.org or call
703-739-7200.
(Editor’s Note: Tiffannie Bond is a
freelance writer and media relations
specialist at Imagine Communica-
tions.)
Hoping Your
Holidays Are Filled
With Happiness
ATPA
administrators of
employee benefit plans
7600 SW Mohawk St.
Tualatin, OR 97062
503 454-3800 Fax: 503 796-7332
Pati Piro-Bosley
PAGE 6
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
DECEMBER 16, 2011