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 Insulators cover pipes, mechanical equipment and duct work with fiberglass, urethane foam, polystyrene, silicates and many other materials. They often cover the insulation with a protective layer. Apprentices are trained to make exact cuts using mathematical formulas to fabricate flat sheets into the skin-like circular coating that zigzags with the miles of pipes and ducts that flow through oil refineries, powerhouses, ships, office complexes and giant skyscrapers.
Instructors like Roger Bellamy ingrain formulas like “” the formula describing the dimensions of a piece of insulation to cover a pipe elbow, into their heads. Journeymen insulate hot and cold pipes and vents that transport gas and liquids that range in temperatures from one extreme to the other. Insulators work with materials that transport 3000 degree molten glass in bottle plants and pipes carrying super cool liquids at near absolute zero, minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit, in cryogenic laboratories.
“We’ve been performing green energy conservation for over 100 years,” coordinator Bill Hodges states with pride, showing off the apprentices’ stylish backpacks with the union’s green logo. “Our trade is all about green. We also teach [the apprentices] the need for speed and quality. Union labor may be more expensive than non-union, but we do the job more professionally and put out a higher quality product.”
 Insulation mechanics are well paid but it isn’t for everyone. It is very labor intensive work, and you have to bundle yourself up so you don’t get exposed to the fiberglass, silicates, urethanes and mastics used for protective coatings. You are hot all the time, even when you do refrigeration work, and you go home dirty, sweaty and itchy. Fiberglass is a very itchy material.
“I go to job fairs and junior colleges, and especially groups that recruit women into construction. We’ve had a difficult time getting women into the trade, but the ones who stick with it do great. I ask the ones who drop out why, and much like the men who drop out, they say it’s just not for them. They don’t like working all bundled up and going home feeling itchy from fiberglass. It can be a very difficult trade for some people, but it’s been a great trade for me and provided a great living for me and my family for 30 years,” said Hodges.
The insulators’ union has a traveling job network, allowing Local 16 members to work on jobs all over North America. Hodges and Bellamy have been able to work constantly during their entire careers, even when work was slow in the Bay Area.
The apprentice program is 144 hours of classroom time and 1,500 hours on-the-job training per year. “On the Jobsite” visited the training facility in Martinez.
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 Bill Hodges
Coordinator
I teach them that they are professionals. The days of the blue-collar worker who drinks a beer for lunch and whistles at the ladies are over. When they’re working on a retrofit in a place like Intel, and the office workers are walking around in suits and professional outfits, we don’t want our union members looking like stooges. They don’t have to wear ties, but they have to present themselves as professionals. They are representing themselves and the union. We impress upon them that the workers who know how to dress and act appropriately will be the ones who will remain employed and the ones who can survive hard times. |
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 Roger Bellamy
Instructor
We look at each person individually. Some have a natural ability with their hands and others don’t. Some are fast and others are good at details. So you take into account each person’s strengths and weaknesses and try to get them to the point in the classroom where they can go out in the field and work with a good union mechanic who can polish their skills. Some will end up Michelangelo’s and some Picassos, and some may end up in a different line of work. That’s the way it is, and we accept that.
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 Tom Viscuso
Apprentice
I wasn’t working at the time and someone gave my dad a card. So I went down to the union and filled out all the paperwork. A year-and-half later they called and said they had work for me.
I love what I do. For me, it just goes on by itself. Not everyone can do it. And it pays really well. Before, I did landscaping, which was hard work, swinging a pick and shovel all day.
The worst thing about the trade is the itch and not having room to get your hands on stuff. You have to reach around to get into some tight places. But it’s all a matter of staying cool when it’s hot out and you get the itches.
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 Chris Otis
Apprentice
I used to be a bartender, and there was a guy who used to come in all the time with a lot of money. He told me what he did and how to get in the trade. It’s so much better than bartending, where you have to put up with a lot of attitude from your customers. Here, I just go to work on time with a professional attitude, do my job, and go home. People leave me alone. No more stress.
I like doing finishing work. A lot of stuff we do is pretty dirty and messy and you get hot and sweaty. Finish work is about attention to detail and making it look good. That’s what I like, making things look good. |
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 Jessica Collins
Apprentice
You get a lot of exercise and you get to meet different people. You learn a lot on the job from the journeymen, and you get to make good money. Any girl could do it, but they choose not to for some reason. I’ve tried to recruit my friends. I have a few that are interested, but things are slow right now.
The hardest thing for me is metal work. Metal is a challenge. You have to learn the size insulation for each system, the tools to use, how to crimp and bead and make clean cuts that completely seal. I like it. Metal work is better than wrapping ducts.
My mother’s a carpenter. I was helping her out on a job, and the insulation superintendent saw how hard I was working and recruited me.
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 Mike Morris
Apprentice
I’ve done this for 10 years and finally got in the union. Working union I get a retirement, I get vacation and medical. Working nonunion, I didn’t get anything but my paycheck. And nonunion, if the boss doesn’t like you, you’re on your own. On a union job, if the boss doesn’t like you, you go to the business agent to back you up. I was on a non-union job and the boss asked me to go to church with him. I said, “No, I don’t go to church.” All the guys on the job went to his church. He fired me. That wouldn’t happen on a union job.
I love this type of work. One time I did this metal job covering vents on a roof in East Oakland. For years, whenever I drove by, it looked real beautiful. I’d say to myself, I did that job.
In the apprentice program they teach you how to do things the right way. After 10 years in the trade, I’m learning stuff I didn’t know. |
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 A.J. Tolentino
Apprentice
I was doing data entry, and that was no fun. Other guys like to sit on their butt, but I like to be moving around. I like working. We get to use a knife and a tape measure. It is fun and challenging. Every day you’re doing something different, and it’s good money. |
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 Nathaniel Burfict
Apprentice
My brother and a couple friends I went to school with are journeymen insulators. Before this I worked in a restaurant, I worked for UPS; I worked a lot of jobs that weren’t careers, just jobs. This is a career. It’s nice to go to work and at the end of the day be able to look at what you did. Finish work gives me the most gratification. I can do this for 30 years. |
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 Dave Egan
Apprentice
I worked for PG&E before as a gas serviceman. This is a little harder, but the end result is more money and stability. I’ve always been an outdoors athletic type. I like working with my hands. It’s a long process, four years, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The math came easy to me. I like technical. Once you learn the formulas, putting the pieces together is a piece of cake.. |
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 Jackson Soberal jr.
Apprentice
My father, two uncles, and a lot of my friends are in the trade. It’s a family trade, it’s pretty cool. You get to meet a lot of guys, including people in the other trades. The hardest part is learning all the formulas and the cuts, but all it takes is repetition.
I like commercial better than the industrial. It’s faster paced and the hours are better. It’s also a little cleaner. Some industrial sites, like Chevron, with all the chemical smells, can be “an experience.” |
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 Al Allen
Apprentice
I was an auto mechanic before, but the auto trade got slow. I had a few friends in the [insulation] trade and they got me in. Once I got in, I stayed in. It’s more laid back. You get to work with other people, and if you don’t know something, somebody is there to help. When you’re an auto mechanic, you are pretty much on your own.
Here things go pretty smooth. The math is challenging. It’s like putting together a puzzle, with all the cuts and angles. You need steady hands. Some people have trouble, but if you have it, you have it. All you need are the tools.
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 Raymond Davis
Apprentice
I used to work in a warehouse. Here you get the sun and the outdoors. You’re not cooped up, and you get to see different places, like the Santa Clara crime lab. I got to see it when there were no walls and no windows, and then got to see it when it became a building with different rooms. I got to see the shooting range and the forensic labs.
I also like working refineries. There’s a lot going on. You get to see the work the different trades are doing, and then you get to see it all come together. You can follow the pipes going every which way out of one room and into another. |
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