Golden hands

"Big" salary deserves the labour value

     It was not difficult "to recognize" welders because their working clothes were always "ragged", full of holes, their faces were also dirty all day. Mr Pham Ngoc Tien, welder in Nghi Son oil chemical refinery project who had just received his February salary of 61,302,000 dongs said: "Our salary quite deserves our effort, being a welder at construction site is so strenuous, this job requires high professional skill, good health and it is much harder than others. Moreover, welders are paid at a fixed rate by the company according to their products, the more they work the more they earn. In February, to get the said above salary, I had to work in extra shifts frequently, I used to come home late, at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m". It was certain that not all welders got such high salary as Mr Tien. He had achieved skills of a 6G welder whereas the 6G technology was considered to be “the high technological welding". The 6G position was a difficult welding posture (the one to weld piping axes inclining 450 ± 50 compared with horizontal plane and the pipes didnot rotate during welding), a 6G welder might be called a perfect one when he had been fluent at all skills and postures of the welding job. With professional skill and 11 years of experience, Mr Tien's labour productivity was very high, for the time being, he could weld upto 7 ID of thick white steel pipe per day.

     Through Mr Tien and other welders, we knew the hardships and various difficulties of this job. As for welders, working above the ground, climbing from one place to others in hot weather were not the most difficult at all because at these places it was still airy for them to breathe and they still had spaces to stand, but the most strenuous thing was working in narrow spaces where it was hot, there was a shortage of lights, the welding smoke was very stuffy together with the metal burnt smell and the ear-spliting noises of the whole construction site while the heat of welding electrodes was upto 1300 - 1530^oC and an ordinary man could not bear for ten minutes. A welder had to work in all postures, sometimes he had to look up and sometimes he had to bend his body for long time to do welding job.

     Mr Dang Tuan Hung, teacher at Welding Training Centre of Lilama 69-1 who also had a strong attachment to welding job for nearly 20 years said: "The salary of welders is not high in comparison with their labour value, their technique and skills. This job requires speciality and high skill, and not everyone is able to become a good welder. In addition, a welder always faces risks of labour safety and occupational diseases, so one of the first lessons we teach our trainees is labour safety during working". There were numerous risks "lying in wait" for welders such as: getting electric shocks, things going into their eyes, being cut by sharp metals, being scalded by hot surfaces or welding flame, and sparks shooting out …

     To ensure safety and reduce risks of occupational diseases, Lilama 69-1 had carried out systematic training for their welders as well as supplied them with adequate facilities to work.

     Welders were also an important force to contribute to the success of projects performed by Lilama 69-1. All activities including manufacture, installation, repairing and maintenance for industrial projects needed welders, especially in large-scaled ones which had the participation of international contractors and owners required high quality, welders played a very important part. That is why "big" salary a welder gets quite deserses his sweat, effort, intelligence and role.

"Diligent practice helps become talent"

     "A welder must practise his skills diligently and experience many projects so that he can be a good one", affirmed by experienced welders. Mr Hung said: "previously, to become a welder, I had to work as an assistant for 2 years, I just did jobs assigned by official welders. I met with a lot of difficulties to be a mere apprentice, for example arc treatment to direct current electrodes which were very popular at that time and the deformed welded joints, I had to learn very much from seniors". Mr Hung himself, before "conquering" the 6G welding skill, had to be fluent at all other skills, postures to weld sheet steel from 1G-4G and techniques to weld pipes from 2G, 3G. He had participated in many projects through out the country such as Quy Hop sugar plant (Nghe An), Nghi Son cement plant (Thanh Hoa), Pha Lai 2 thermal power plant (Hai Duong), Son La hydro power plant, Dung Quat oil refinery plant (Quang Ngai) and so on. He added "for all occupations, especially a strenuous one like the welding job, you must love it, then you will have good skills and have good salary".

     Novice welders getting sore eyes or scalded was just a normal thing. Mr Pham Trong Manh, a 3G welder who was working for GEA project - Bac Ninh Equipment and Steel Structure Manufacturing plant said: "when I was a mere apprentice, I got sore eyes frequently. The most serious time lasted 3 days, for the first 2 days my eyes swelled considerably and I could not open them. I just lied at home and covered my eyes with wet face-cloth, then on the third day I could open them but saw full of smoke in the sky and I had to wink my eyes constantly".

     We can say that success of a welder must spend a long working process and continuous learning because in each project there are various welding material and welded joints. A welder himself when participating in a project must pass the welding sample exam according to the owner. So, the more projects he participates in, the better experience he accumulates and his skills are also raised to a higher level. Hard work cannot make welders be fond of their job, Mr Manh said: "welding nice joints and being praised and admired by colleagues, that is my biggest happiness in this occupation".

     Diligent practice helps become talent, and being talented welders, they will be paid deserving salaries and they are respected by other people in any projects where they work for Lilama 69-1. The company now has 382 welders, including 214 6G ones and 168 2G-3G ones. The outstanding thing of welding job in Lilama 69-1 JSC is that the company has built a Welding Training Centre since 2011, all their welders have been trained systematically, from safety knowledge to welding speciality. Moreover, Lilama 69-1 has also coordinated with foreign firms to train, examine and upgrade skills for the welders. They are equipped with adequate working clothes, safety helmets, welding masks, welding glasses, lifelines, leather shoes & gloves.
 

Nguyen Phu