westinghouse nuclear

[wareagle]

You all read this and i'm very interested in ready your input... I got called for a interview to the westinghouse nuclear pipe welder appreintership program. The school was put togather with the best of the best. I do not think money was a object in this deal.if you go to this school it is valued at 16,000 $....1 year of service or 2,000 hrs is the payback deal....18.00$hr until you get the first 2,000 hrs or it might be 1 yr and then you are subject to a raise.you get travel pay about 400$ and you per diem is right at 900$ a week while you are working and that is tax free. The school is 20 weeks 4 days a week,10hrs a day,,,,,,,,,,,,,no pay while in school this is the hard part,,,,,this is a brand new school and their equipment seems top notch.their web site says the average welder get 50,000 a year this building was huge and it sure looked like money was no object. You will be a contractor and will not be working staight for westinghouse direct from my understanding. Toshiba owns then now,,,,,they also said you can get your journewmans card in 2 years.....i am toped out at my current company as a welder/fabricator @ 17.08 ......being from kentucky this does not sound too bad to me. You will not find too many jobs around here making 50,000$ a year for a welder,,,,,,what are some of you guys thoughts

[transit]

My first job with IBM in the 60’ was 125/week in training at Endicott ny and that was with an engineering sheep skin. Per diem was another 125. the money came when i was with IBM-NASA. At 400 for trivial and 900 per diem, 1,300 a week. Why are you wasting time asking? Go for it.

[garythenuke]

Do it if you can afford to take the pay cut while in school. The nuclear industry is going to go gangbusters in the next 20 years. If you have your cert you can make a CRAPLOAD of money. You don't even have to work new construction, you can travel to outages and make dang good money as well.
Congratulations on being called for the interview, and good luck.

[WHughes]

They will not train you for free, meaning you might be your own contractor but they will own your a$$. What it is called is "Independent Contractor",(kind of like a hairdresser who rents their space) which is to mean you are your own boss, but Westinghouse will not be paying you benefits or insurance AND you most likely will be signing a No Compete contract which means you wont be able to weld for anyone but Westinghouse without paying back their cost of training you or getting sued by them. If you want to weld nuclear, go to UA.org and look into the pipe trades. A nuclear plant built in America will be built with union labor.

[garythenuke]

Originally Posted by WHughes

They will not train you for free, meaning you might be your own contractor but they will own your a$$. What it is called is "Independent Contractor",(kind of like a hairdresser who rents their space) which is to mean you are your own boss, but Westinghouse will not be paying you benefits or insurance AND you most likely will be signing a No Compete contract which means you wont be able to weld for anyone but Westinghouse without paying back their cost of training you or getting sued by them. If you want to weld nuclear, go to UA.org and look into the pipe trades. A nuclear plant built in America will be built with union labor.

I had never even considered that angle.

[WHughes]

Doesnt it seem odd that they are going to invest a ton of money in a training facility but not employ this guy after training? Independent contracting is a way to get someone to work for you with out paying the fringes. They are building this school to try and shortcut skilled labor. 50,000 to make xray welds at nuke plants? Chump change is what that is. Instead of paying the union workforce that is out there already, they want to 'own' the workforce so they can undercut with their own labor force who is willing to work for little money. It is underhanded and un-American.

[Old Fart]

There's just a whole lot of information missing in this post that is needed to form an opinion.

I'd probably go listen to the presentation, and then see what the actual written contract says. Westinghouse will definitely be having some high proced lawyers write their offer, and it alone will govern the deal.

[specter]

Well you should go to the interview, see their presentation, find out what they offer for training, pay, per diem or living quarters during the training, benefits such as health, retirement,, and see where the jobs are as well as if they pay relocation costs to cover your move. You really want to read over any contract they offer or push upon you at the interview. If they offer at contract and say it has to be signed before leaving the interview an alarm should be sounding off!! Read it carefully ask and questions before signing.

And remember they called you for the interview! You did not call them. Thats an indication they think you have potential. So thats makes things negotiable.

Try to find out before you go to the interview what the training and job will be. try to locate students or graduates and talk to them about the training and the job. Did they like the training! The job? The benefits? an oh!! Would they do it again or recommend it.

[lugweld]

Where is the program?
The welding journal had a blurb about it a couple months back... about a school in N GA that is a state tech school that has gotten a grant with a similar program, but not so restrictive, the work length is only 6 months etc I believe, but it will provide room and board, the works.

[transit]

If there are restrictions on outside employment, what are they and for how long? Cant blame them for protecting their investment.

[Boilermaker237]

amen to what Whuges said they are looking for their cheep labor here to undercut the trades.Join a local union boilermakers,fitters or the like and work towrds a retirement and making america strong again.The unions offer traning and are top notch and you can work while going threw the apprentice program and learn all the aspects of the trade.school is good but there is only so much you can learn in the school the real world is the teacher. Just my 2c

[JLE-ENT.]

Originally Posted by WHughes

Doesnt it seem odd that they are going to invest a ton of money in a training facility but not employ this guy after training? Independent contracting is a way to get someone to work for you with out paying the fringes. They are building this school to try and shortcut skilled labor. 50,000 to make xray welds at nuke plants? Chump change is what that is. Instead of paying the union workforce that is out there already, they want to 'own' the workforce so they can undercut with their own labor force who is willing to work for little money. It is underhanded and un-American.

Truer words were never spoken....

Thank you for another fine post...