Glad to see that you found us here, Welcome Mac!
Hang in there buddy, as a wise inspector on here once told me..."it takes a little while to get a large oceanliner turned around"
...pick your battles wisely and slowly you will be able to see things turn around for the better.
...(thank you Chet Guildford!)Just don't get frustrated because it doesn't happen overnight. The lack of quality costs your company money, so every chance that you get to get a plug in for stepping up the quality in an area of inspection, either through training your welders, or ramping up an area of inspection until things get under control to where you can live with them, the better. I have a couple welders that I have to babysit and I'm sure every weld shop is like that, but be encouraged when you see some of the welders who take additional steps to make sure what they do is the best job they can do for your company.
Is there a slim chance that you can work with your welders either one on one or in a group for just a few minutes and just go over Table 6.1 and Figure 5.4 and show them what the acceptance criteria is and what the minimums for passing a weld are, so they can help you? I'm willing to bet that there are a few welders will will take the ball and run, once they know what is expected of them.
Give me a call or email me when you get a chance to talk. I'm willing to bet that every new CWI has had their moments where they feel like the quality ship is sinking and they are the only ones who bothered to pick up a bucket to start bailing water.