A welder at Senesco Marine at Quonset Point works on a double-hulled petroleum barge.

Courtesy of Senesco Marine

As superheroes go, Iron Man has many admirable qualities. Thanks to his armored suit, he has super strength. He can fly. He’s got plenty of firepower to battle bad guys. Best of all, he can weld. (How do you think he made the suit in the first place?)

That has not gone unnoticed by the American Welding Society, which has teamed up with Marvel Comics to create a comic book starring Iron Man that promotes the welding profession, part of the society’s Welder Workforce Development Program. The trade can use some good publicity. Adrienne Zalkind, a spokesperson for the society, said there is a critical need for trained welders, and it’s getting worse. By 2010, she said, the U.S. will be short 200,000 welders.

“Absolutely. Big time,” said Ken Aurecchia, business manager for Local 51, the plumbers, pipefitters and service technicians union, when asked if there was a shortage of welders in Rhode Island.

Joe Matarese, human resources manager for Senesco Marine at Quonset Point, said his company has had to import welders from out of state. “We’re building five vessels right now, and to keep up with that demand we need more welders. We need to import welders from Mississippi and Alabama, because we can’t find the local ones we need,” he said.

Matarese said Senesco is using 146 welders, and 75 of them are contract employees from outside Rhode Island.

“There is a shortage, particularly when it comes to getting the quality welders we need. There are some people who know how to weld, but not the kind of work we need,” Matarese said. So Senesco is starting a six-week training program for new welders that will start with six students.

“It’s a basic welding program. But when it comes to the technicalities of what we need to do, we’re going to be very specific ... hopefully, we’ll get six people who can start right away,” Matarese said.

Robert A. Hamilton, communications director for Electric Boat, said the company is not hiring new welders at the moment. But because Congress recently authorized building two new submarines a year, instead of just one, starting in 2011, he anticipates Electric Boat will need more welders soon.

Just where they will come from, Hamilton said, is uncertain. He said it might mean working with an area technical college to train welders; it might mean Electric Boat will set up its own training programs; it might mean recruiting out of state. Hamilton said Electric Boat often requires highly specialized work, and in the past the company has had the best results training its own people.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, there were 1,230 welders, cutters, solderers and braziers in Rhode Island as of last May, down from 1,970 in 2000. The mean hourly wage last year was $17.56. But that figure does not include other trades that often use welding, such as the plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters (1,860) or the structural iron and steel workers (320).

Zalkind, of the American Welding Society, said the average age for welders in the U.S. is in the mid-50s. Many of them are retiring, and not being replaced. “We’re losing the welders who have been at it for 25 or 30 years,” she said. Meanwhile, she said, young workers have become disinterested in the manual trades, and are drawn to white collar and high-tech jobs.

“The high schools now gear everybody to go to college, and they’ve lost sight of the other jobs that are out there,” said Dave Marland, training coordinator for Local 51.

At one time the Community College of Rhode Island ran a welding training program at Quonset Point, but CCRI is no longer operating the program. CCRI spokesperson Kristen Cyr said public demand for the training was insufficient, and companies looking for welders, such as Senesco Marine and Electric Boat, told CCRI that they preferred to train their own workers.

“It’s not a glamorous job,” said Senesco’s Matarese. “You often need to work outside. You need to wear a full face shield, and it can get very hot in the summer. Are you always working in a nice environment? No. Are you always in a comfy position? No? Is it a physically demanding job? Yes.”

On the other hand, a highly skilled welder can make a lot of money, particularly if he or she is willing to travel. Mike Donovan, a foreman for Ocean State Technical Services road crews, who lives in New Hampshire, said he knows of welders who make six-figure incomes. In his younger days, the 38-year-old Donovan said, he might be on the road 36 weeks a year: “The money’s out there,” he said.

Although CCRI is no longer teaching welding, there are places in Rhode Island to learn the trade.

One of them is Ocean State Technical Services in Providence, a mechanical engineering and testing company that specializes in working for power plants. It has established a welding school at one end of a large, hangar-like structure at its headquarters on Chapman Street.

On Tuesday morning there were four welders present. Donovan was working on some advanced training. Dylan Wolk, 17, of Barrington, and Mandin Goncalves, 17, of North Providence, are both students at the Met School, a state-financed alternative high school, who come to OST Services twice a week to learn welding.

Wolk said he had already done a little welding at The Steel Yard, a Providence arts collaborative, when a teacher at the Met School told him about an opportunity at OST Services. “I’ve always been into working with my hands and doing construction work, and I really like this,” Wolk said. “I think this is something I can do for the rest of my life.”

Mary Fam, internship office manager at the Met School, said Tim Kinnaman, welding school instructor for OST Services, contacted the school in September and suggested a welding mentorship program. “There’s not enough skilled people, and they have to come from somewhere,” Kinnaman said.

Fam said the school started a pilot program with three students. “We try to start off with a small number of the most motivated students,” she said. Right now, financing for the welding program is divided between the school and the students. Fam said the Met School is trying to find some grant money that would help pay for the project in the future.

Derek Morgan, 21, of Foster, was getting his welder’s training through the federal Workforce Investment Act. OST Services is a Workforce Investment Act provider, administered by state and local work-force investment boards. Morgan was sent to OST Services through netWORKri, a group of employment centers run by the state’s Department of Labor and Training.

Morgan, who said he had worked delivering pizzas and as a machine operator for L.L. Bean in Maine, said he had never touched a welding machine before. “It’s all about being comfortable and finding the right angle,” he said. “There’s a lot of practice involved. Tim [Kinnaman] is a good teacher, and knows what he’s talking about. It’s basically learning by doing. That’s the best way for me to learn.”

Kinnaman, who worked at Electric Boat from 1975 to 1985, said OST Services offers everything from quick refresher sessions for welders who want to learn a new technique or brush up on their skills to the four-week entry level course that teaches basic welding. (Cost for the four-week course is $3,800.)

“We get the pupils out of here to a level where they know the basics, and can move on to become a high-quality, highly paid welder. . . . we’re trying to give these guys the broad-based knowledge to do a lot of different things.” Eventually, Kinnaman said, he’d like to expand the OST Services course to eight weeks.

He held up two pieces of metal that Wolk had welded together, part of a test to certify Wolk to American Welding Society standards. Kinnaman said providing certification is part of the OST Services program. There are several certification organizations for welders, including the AWS, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Petroleum Institute. (The State of Rhode Island does require licensing for all welders, but it does for plumbers and pipefitters who use welding on the job.)

Local 51, the plumbers and pipefitters union, runs a 16-week welding program at its training facility in East Providence. Dave Marland, training coordinator for the union, said anyone can take the course, which trains welders to AWS standards. At the completion of the program, the freshly minted welders are enrolled in the union and join its apprenticeship program.

Ocean State Testing Inc., located at Quonset Point, had worked with CCRI when the college ran its training program, and has facilities to train welders. Company owner Frank McCann said Ocean State Testing is looking into working with a different educational institution in the area and wants to get state and federal grant eligibility that would provide aid for welding students.

asmith@projo.com