[TheRealThing]

I am a union pipefitter out of huntington. My dad was an ashland hand. Maybe your side did ok, I know for a fact the 80's were very lean for industrial.if you were really there, and honest about it, you would tell how the union construction faired during those years.Being a support trade for the industrial side for fitters, and boilermakers, you should remember that carpenters dont work when they dont, at least on industrial jobs

LOL, carpenters only support fitters when they need scaffolding to get up in the pipe rack or something. That kind of work constitutes a very small part of what carpenters do. But, that is one reason we do have so much work. We support all crafts in many different areas. Carpenters normally fill the role of superintendents on actual construction jobs, where something is actually being built, not just coming in for a turnaround or running a new line up in a pipe rack which, by the way, wouldn't even be there if carpenters didn't build the foundations for it. Carpenters are the first to come onto the job and the last to leave. We have the broadest scope of work of any of the crafts. IF you were really there, you'd know that. I'll grant you, on shutdowns and turnarounds a mechanical type often is the head dog. Industrial jobs do employ many pipe fitters and boilermakers, especially in the refining and chemical industry. However, one sees many more ironworkers in the industrial setting outside of refineries.

In my experience the carpenter superintendent was the first man on the job. I sat up the job trailer, and laid out all the laydown areas and support locations such as break trailers, as well as fencing etc. to establish the various interim life safety requirements. I laid out the structure/structures, put up batter boards for building lines, and supervised the excavations. Carpenters don't stop until the last cabinet is gleaming in the light from a fixture that is in the ceilings we put in. My last official act on the job was usually to hand the client his keys. In the industrial arena same deal. A carpenter is always a super or general foreman over the very same concerns. The only difference being more emphasis is normally necessarily given to foundations since they support massive equipment, vessels towers and the like. We put in every trailer and build anything from temporary steps to the dance floors you guys need to work off of in relative safety.

Most of the time you talk like you got all this stuff down pat but, reading your posts reveals you to be somewhat limited experience-wise. At any rate, maybe you didn't get a lot of calls from the BA in Huntington up in your holler. But, I guarantee there was work going on at Ashland Oil in the 80's. Your dad was an Ashland Oil hand or a Local 248 hand? If he was the latter, chances are good I knew him.