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Members with a Tulsa-based union local are upset at being lumped into reports of widespread weld failure rates on the southernmost portion of the Gulf Coast Pipeline — a leg of the controversial Keystone XL.

Union leader Danny Hendrix said he does not dispute the reports of high repair-reject rates on the southernmost leg. But that part, he noted, was done by another contractor that did not use his union’s labor.

“I think it’s all true,” said Hendrix, business manager of Pipeliners Local Union 798 headquartered in Tulsa. The local supplied many workers for the Keystone’s leg from the Cushing oil hub south into Texas.

Keystone XL owner TransCanada contracted with Michels Construction for the first two “spreads” of the pipeline coming south from Cushing. Michels used union pipefitters, welders and other trained workers, Hendrix noted.

The third spread was contracted out to Louisiana-based Sunland Construction, he said, which hired non-union crews. Those are the portions that drew criticism in a government finding indicating high weld failure and repair rates.

“We provided trained people” for Michels and TransCanada, Hendrix said. “We begged (TransCanada) not to use unqualified contractors.”