5 years with the company, second time being passed over for a promotion…

Location: California / Azusa: I (42F) am writing on behalf of my partner (42M), he commutes to Azusa, CA, which consists of mostly a hispanic population. At his old job he was a fabricator, after the welder left I advised him to. go to school to get certified as a Welder, which he did. He then became the welder and foreman of that machinery shop. It went bankrupt during COVID, we then learned we had a second child on the way (I am a SAHM from a previous Worker’s Comp case I am still suffering from). So he gets hired on as an entry level welder through a hiring agency. But now it’s been 5 years with this same company. Today he heard that someone else got the “Lead Weld” position. He joked “Is it because I don’t speak Spanish?” - At which point, the two laughed and joked back “Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that.” HAHAHA. I should mention Bilingual in Spanish was never a requirement in either posting.

The main issue is, the job description has completely changed since the original posting where my partner was a shoe-in: Experienced welder with knowledge of blue prints/ AWS D1.1 symbols, knowledge of structural steel, proven ability to lead others, etc… I try, but I am a visual learner, so I don’t understand 100% of what he tries to explain about his daily duties, but he has always taken a proud approach to his work - He takes pride in doing it the right way, even raising concerns about blueprints that didn’t work 2 years ago being passed off again, which required re-work of galvanized steel, rework of every job that was done for the last week. So he was also labeled a “Hot Head” for being passionate about his work and OSHA safety guidelines.

Again, I think, He’s perfect for this position, because he will find the problems in the blueprints before it reaches the floor - so no more rework, right? Thing is, the job description is now not even requiring welding experience or metallurgical understanding like the original did, or OSHA - but I can’t find the original post we applied for... So, I’m 99% sure it went to a “material handler” who is in charge of supplying small parts to the welder, but has never been one. There is a “clique” that goes out to bars after work, hangs out on the weekends, and this person is part of it that. The actual Branch Manager left it up to these two guys to decide who got the position. We applied via the corporate website, which we then received an e-mail that we had to e-mail a woman and tell her about the application, her response was “Great, I will forward this to the hiring manager…”

If you’re trying to promote from within, why are there so many loopholes? Why don’t they want a candidate that can do the job? My guy also said one other welder applied for the lead position, who had 2 years less seniority than him, but also seemed “bummed” today - While the “material handler” was very happy. New lead will probably be announced tomorrow… We don’t have family help, our goal was to move up in the company to support our 2 kids and me, but the first time they told him he was “one of the best welders they have”. He constantly outperformed his co-workers who told him to “slow down”. He is feeling defeated and broken, asking himself “what’s the point?” - We’ve reached the glass ceiling of poverty, living in our RV, and we’re exhausted from doing everything right, and always ending up at this dead end. Any advice would be appreciated, Thank You!