FENNIMORE, Wis. — With a growing shortage of welders across Wisconsin, Sielaff Corporation in Mineral Point is providing its employees with a chance to learn the trade.

Often, when we hear something is free, it comes with a catch.

Well, the catch here for these students is at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, is an investment in their future by their Wisconsin-based company.

For Santos Alvarado, it’s more than the obvious spark it takes to combine metals. Welding is the combination he hopes will improve his life. 

“A better future. The more I learn, the more doors opened up there for me,” Alvarado said. 

Santos currently works as a shipment specialist at Sielaff, a furniture design, engineering and manufacturing company.

“In other jobs I have worked, they want experienced welders and in this job, they actually allow us to learn,” Alvarado said. 

Santos is one of about 10 employees attending a six-week training at Southwest Wisconsin Tech College.

Most of the people he works with only speak Spanish, which is why Sielaff employee and welder Oscar Martinez was there to assist with training and help translate.

“They need workers. Nobody wants to work welding,” Martinez said. “So why not teach these guys how to weld so they can have better benefits?”

 In the more than six years he’s been teaching, Instructor Ed Anderson has never received as many calls as he has lately from people looking for welders.

“It’s almost like people don’t want to do the dirty jobs anymore. It’s hard to get people into this type of trade work,” Anderson said.

So, while it may be a job that few are willing to do, it’s a skill Santos has wanted to learn for a long time.

“I can take a promotion better pay and stuff,” Alvarado said.