Boilermakers in Washington state keep busy making tanks
ALTHOUGH ETHANOL REFINERIES are massed mainly in the Midwest Corn Belt, the surge in the alternative fuel industry is impacting tank manufacturers as far away as Washington state. In Olympia, Wash., Boilermakers employed by Brown-Minneapolis Tank Northwest (BMT) are busy trying to meet the demands of biorefineries that convert corn and other feedstocks into fuel.
Gary Powers, BM-ST for Local 104 (Seattle), said 30 of his members work for BMT, and the company is interested in hiring more. BMT is producing eight to 10 tanks a month, ranging in size from 5,000- to two-million gallons. Smaller tanks are built inhouse, larger ones are fabricated in sections for erection onsite.
L-104 and BMT recently began negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Powers said he is hopeful the steady tank orders will translate into contract improvements. “Brown-Minneapolis Tank is a national company that’s headquartered in New Mexico,” he said. Earlier this year, the company reported backorders worth $60 million, with about 30 percent of that work coming from BMT Northwest.
“The Olympia facility is the only part of the company that has a union contract,” Powers noted. He said the operation was previously owned by Reliable Steel, a family-run operation with a long history of good labor/management relations.
Powers said long-term positions are available for persons with good fabrication skills in welding or fitting. Those interested should call him at 206-623-6473.
Local 104 is a forging, manufacturing, metal, railroad, shipbuilding, shop, and marine lodge chartered in 1958.
