About the Boilermakers

The Boilermakers Lodge 359 provide highly skilled, safe, and reliable tradespeople for owners and contractors in the industrial construction sector. Our Union is forward thinking and committed to leadership development and skills training for its members. The Boilermakers Lodge 359 provide a true brotherhood environment through a well-founded, all embracing, and participative membership.

Boilermakers Lodge 359 can set you on your path to a great career in the steel trades. Our members work under the safest conditions with complete Union representation and protection. Join this world class brotherhood of highly skilled professional Rigger’s, Fitter’s and Welder’s who earn top wages and benefits through collective bargaining.

Scope of the Boilermaker Occupation

A Journeyperson Boilermaker is a tradesperson who must possess the full range of knowledge, abilities and skills required to fabricate, construct, install, assemble, erect, demolish, repair and maintain a wide variety of vessels, tanks towers, boilers, hoists and other structures, ancillary equipment and fixtures made of steel, other metals, fiberglass and other materials.

The broad scope of the boilermaker trade includes the construction and maintenance activities performed in the field and in industrial and commercial plants such as:

• Cement Plants
• Fertilizer plants
• Water treatment facilities
• Breweries
• Sawmills
• Iron and Steel production facilities
• Steam Generation plants
• Electric power generation (thermal, nuclear, hydro) plants
• Gas turbines
• Refineries (oil, chemical)
• Shipbuilding and repair docks
• Pulp and paper mills
• Wind and fusion sites

Boilermaker Apprenticeship

Boilermaker work demands a high degree of technical skill, constant attention to safety, a dedication to excellence, a willingness to study and complete on-the-job training and an ability to travel from job site to job site to maintain employment.

Today’s field construction Boilermaker Apprentice is involved in more than just the construction of boilers. Apprentices are a vital part of construction project teams that erect pressure vessel assemblies and fabricate metal plate. You could be involved in the installation of a giant superheater section in a large utility boiler, the erection of a 200,000 barrel water storage tank, the replacement of a nuclear power plant reactor dome or construction of components at a hydroelectric power station.

What do Boilermaker Apprentices do on the Job?

• Loading & unloading materials
• Rigging materials for movement
• Directing crane operations
• Assembling and disassembling scaffolds and platforms
• Changing crane booms
• Inspecting and caring for rigging accessories and equipment
• Burning, gouging and welding
• Removing and replacing tubes
• Interpreting blueprints
• Laying out components
• Erecting support steel beams and columns
• Using various welding machines
• Aligning and fitting components

Indentured Apprenticeship

The Boilermakers Lodge 359 Apprenticeship Program consists of 23 weeks in class full-time training culminating in the Boilermaker Entry Level Certificate with a minimum of 70% in both theory and practical.

The Boilermaker Apprentice must successfully complete 4 600 hours of field assignments monitored by the Coordinator under direction of the Boilermaker ATAC.

Upon successful completion of the field assignments and technical training, the Lodge 359 Boilermaker Apprentice will be scheduled to write the Inter-provincial Red Seal Examination and upon successful completion, they are eligible to change to a full Qualified Boilermaker status.