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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / laying off
- - By Cole Welding (**) Date 12-07-2008 17:24
I live near wichita falls texas and there are welding shop here laying people off.....  I was wondering if it was happening in other places too??????
Parent - - By tazmannusa (**) Date 12-08-2008 00:57
Yep same here in California, hopfully things will start turning around in spring
Tom
Parent - - By Josh Flynn (**) Date 12-08-2008 00:59
North Carolina is laying some off also.
Parent - By chris2698 (****) Date 12-08-2008 01:16
yeah I got a friend here in Louisiana that got layed out I guess it was about 3 weeks ago,. I actually use to work with him all I know is it's dam good thing I quit long ago because i'd be getting layed off to
Parent - - By pipe hand (*) Date 12-13-2008 06:20
they hired two this week at the shop I work at in N.C.
Parent - - By Josh Flynn (**) Date 12-13-2008 13:46
what part of north carolina are you around?
Parent - - By pipe hand (*) Date 12-14-2008 09:24
Winston Salem
Parent - - By Josh Flynn (**) Date 12-14-2008 14:28
Thats were i'm at ,up toward walkertown.
Parent - - By pipe hand (*) Date 12-15-2008 02:19
I live in Walnut Cove the shop I am at now is in King
Parent - - By Josh Flynn (**) Date 12-15-2008 16:59
I worked up in King for a while, the first part of this year
Parent - By pipe hand (*) Date 12-15-2008 22:37
where? Carolina pipe?
Parent - - By Douglas Main (*) Date 12-08-2008 02:40
Man you cant make it here in the western part of AZ unless you get rid of some of your overhead. The company I work for(mining, sand and gravel producer, redi-mix, under ground, and grading) went from 142 employees End of Dec. 07' to 42 End of bussiness 12-05-08(Last Fri.) Yeah granted that is 80% equipment operators, but still kinda nerve racking. I dont see too many welders or mechanics getting laid off yet(unless its needed). But darn if we are like anyone else, we have repairs and pm to keep the other mobile welder and I busy for one more year in the two mines and various plants. So hope something picks up! I kind of figured and planned for it to take about 18 months to pick up a little. It will never be what it was though, here. If that helps somebodys morale ;)
Parent - - By OxbowCS (*) Date 12-08-2008 03:04
I have 2 friends that were welding for Mega Corp. building haul trucks for the mines, went from 3 shifts to skeleton over night about a month ago.  Also heard on the news last week that Feeport Macmoran is laying off 600 at the mines in southern NM.  My sister just got layed off from her pipefitting job in Idaho 3 weeks ago.  Hope the spring turns up something good.
Parent - - By OBrien (***) Date 12-08-2008 23:07
Maine is doing the same.  One small shop laid off a good deal and a company I used to work for just had to lay off over 120 people.  Its rough.
Parent - - By Josh Flynn (**) Date 12-09-2008 00:31
There is a company down the road, that builds steel buildings of all sizes.  I saw were they layed off 175 before this month.  Now they are closing down pretty soon.
Parent - By swsweld (****) Date 12-10-2008 02:03
We have pretty much finished two long term jobs in the back yard and don't have anything significant until spring. The one job we DID have scheduled got postponed until next winter. I hate it when that happens.

I'm not going to lay anyone off until January and hate to do it then. Maybe something will come up out of the blue. It happens.

There is a fair amount of work around here but it's harder to get the jobs because so many companies are slow they bid the work very low just to have something to do knowing there won't be much or any profit.

If it doesn't improve soon I may have to hit the road again. Never say never.
Josh, what company are you referring to? If you don't want to post it would you PM me? Thanks.
Parent - - By welderbrent (*****) Date 12-09-2008 01:37
I laid off all my hired guys last year.  Just my sons and I working the shop and field now.  But since it was a one man shop when I bought it in '96 I can't complain to much about having myself, three sons, and my wife busy.  Could be better but we have work and the bills are paid.

Have a Great Day,  Brent
Parent - - By Cole Welding (**) Date 12-09-2008 03:20
I wonder how hard it will be for me to go to work with my welding truck if i get laied off at the shop i work at
Parent - - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 12-09-2008 03:26
you need to broaden your horizon and not only concentrate on pipe lining and myabe you'll find something but never give up even if it's just building fences or doing feedlot reapirs welding is welding and money is money
Parent - - By pypLynr (***) Date 12-09-2008 03:38
Right on ! $ is $ ... metal will ALWAYS have to be put together somewhere for someone ! Like Shad said, broaden your scope of work . Learn a new technique or a new process on somebody elses dime. Take a small pay cut so you have money coming in and at the same time you can learn something new. Car ports and trailers and clothes lines ... they all pay the bills. Its been slow in central TX for a long while. Its beautiful here but no industry for work. Most everyone commutes from here to Austin or San Antonio. Only to spend alot of their wage in fuel to go to work.
Parent - - By shorthood2006 (****) Date 12-09-2008 19:58
i just came off of a pipeline and im fixin to build a 50x100 hay shed for a hay producer. the pipeline is slowin down in okla at the end of the year. christmas is right around the corner.Money is Money.
Parent - - By Cole Welding (**) Date 12-10-2008 00:35
i am practicing a few hours a day at work on pipe sence it got cold.... We are slow too....  I am looking busy but i am learning a few things from others welder at the shop....  I am not ever going to give up on my future....  but my welds are looking better but not the way i want them to look yet.... thanks
Parent - By shorthood2006 (****) Date 12-10-2008 00:52
it will pick up after xmas. it always does. chesapeake and duke conoco phillips are slowing down till the new year...i talked to 33 compainies yesterday...same story...call back after jan 1st.
Parent - By js1369 (*) Date 12-10-2008 00:54
I work in a shop near Tulsa, we are somewhat busy, we went from 40hrs to 72 hrs in a weeks time mostly do to poor management. The shop is on the small side i thhink we have a workforce of about 30-40 guys, the one thing i don't get is we have a high turnover rate. We also have trouble getting ppl. to be able to pass the weld test, its 2g 1" with 1/4 gap and a backup bar that you have to gouge off when you are done. You also have to grind it smooth, and its all done with .45 flux-core.
Parent - - By PlasmaHead2 (***) Date 12-10-2008 21:58
One of the bigger shops in the area is shutting down around April. Almost 200 people and about 150 welders are out searching for new jobs.
We had a car load of people from that shop show up and fill out applications but I don't think anyone is getting in. Were probibly getting rid of some people some time soon concidering that at least 1 persons paycheck came from work for that shop. I'm in upstate New York by Schenectady, and now things are getting tight around here...
Parent - - By GRoberts (***) Date 12-12-2008 00:29
The newspaper's website doesn't appear to be working at the moment (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review), so I can't provide links, but if anyone is looking in Western PA, there were two articles in todays paper.  One mentioned a shortage of welders and machinists in Western PA right now, and the other was about two energy companies, one Nuke and one Oil & Gas drilling that can't find enought workers.
Parent - - By Billyjoe (***) Date 12-12-2008 05:08
There stacking out oil rig in texas an la. there was a big pipe job in Salt lake city ,but they put it off, they are layoff
rig welder in CO. times are going to get tight ,so take it from an old welder an save as much as you can ,as long as oil prieces are low as they are, pipe line will be slow going,shutdown will be slow, but  Canada is still going strong ,I think it time to get rid of the extra welding machine now where you can still make money off them,, people have ,befor the bottom falls out.I seen this in the 1970's we had to park our rigs and work for other.If you listen to the new all the company that are laying off worker ,533,000 in November ,they say that by march there will be 15 to 20 % of work force layoff,. it will get better but it going to take a some time ,
Parent - - By tigrooter (**) Date 12-12-2008 17:30
I live in nw louisiana and work has slowed some and nobody is hireing till next year. Would love some more work before xmas but what ya gona do. I've been doing a lot of hunting myself it sucks cause I just sit there and think about where some more money is to be made.
Parent - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 12-13-2008 03:12
We hired almost 400 for a large expansion in spring.....we have layed off about 340+- so far.    We hired welders as well, but with all the money and time in certs.......  Sheet metal guys got layed off and the welders are now doing sheet metal work!    The only thing that bugs me about it is we can do thier job and ours, plus we got to test to keep our job on a regular basis, but we are in the same pay grade.   But why pee and moan about it, at least I still got a job for now.

Its looking pretty grim, the company is bleeding about 100k or so a day so I am told.   I think its tough everywhere really.  Nobody knows where we will end up, especially the geniuses in Washington giving away my kids future.
Parent - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 12-15-2008 02:07
I feel your pain only thing is i dont have a place to hunt gona get prices on material for a lil fence job tomorrow
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / laying off

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