diff --git a/wstools/Utility.py b/wstools/Utility.py
index 89fd825..31becbc 100644
--- a/wstools/Utility.py
+++ b/wstools/Utility.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import types
 import socket
 import weakref
 from os.path import isfile
+from string import join, strip, split
 from UserDict import UserDict
 import urllib
 
@@ -293,7 +294,7 @@ class DOM:
     def GetSOAPEnvUri(self, version):
         """Return the appropriate SOAP envelope uri for a given
            human-friendly SOAP version string (e.g. '1.1')."""
-        attrname = 'NS_SOAP_ENV_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attrname = 'NS_SOAP_ENV_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attrname, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -304,7 +305,7 @@ class DOM:
     def GetSOAPEncUri(self, version):
         """Return the appropriate SOAP encoding uri for a given
            human-friendly SOAP version string (e.g. '1.1')."""
-        attrname = 'NS_SOAP_ENC_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attrname = 'NS_SOAP_ENC_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attrname, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -315,7 +316,7 @@ class DOM:
     def GetSOAPActorNextUri(self, version):
         """Return the right special next-actor uri for a given
            human-friendly SOAP version string (e.g. '1.1')."""
-        attrname = 'SOAP_ACTOR_NEXT_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attrname = 'SOAP_ACTOR_NEXT_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attrname, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -393,7 +394,7 @@ class DOM:
             )
 
     def GetWSDLUri(self, version):
-        attr = 'NS_WSDL_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attr = 'NS_WSDL_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attr, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -402,7 +403,7 @@ class DOM:
             )
 
     def GetWSDLSoapBindingUri(self, version):
-        attr = 'NS_SOAP_BINDING_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attr = 'NS_SOAP_BINDING_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attr, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -411,7 +412,7 @@ class DOM:
             )
 
     def GetWSDLHttpBindingUri(self, version):
-        attr = 'NS_HTTP_BINDING_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attr = 'NS_HTTP_BINDING_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attr, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -420,7 +421,7 @@ class DOM:
             )
 
     def GetWSDLMimeBindingUri(self, version):
-        attr = 'NS_MIME_BINDING_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attr = 'NS_MIME_BINDING_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attr, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -429,7 +430,7 @@ class DOM:
             )
 
     def GetWSDLHttpTransportUri(self, version):
-        attr = 'NS_SOAP_HTTP_%s' % version.split('.').join('_')
+        attr = 'NS_SOAP_HTTP_%s' % join(split(version, '.'), '_')
         value = getattr(self, attr, None)
         if value is not None:
             return value
@@ -554,9 +555,9 @@ class DOM:
             if nodetype == child.TEXT_NODE or \
                nodetype == child.CDATA_SECTION_NODE:
                 result.append(child.nodeValue)
-        value = result.join('')
+        value = join(result, '')
         if preserve_ws is None:
-            value = value.strip()
+            value = strip(value)
         return value
 
     def findNamespaceURI(self, prefix, node):
diff --git a/wstools/XMLSchema.py b/wstools/XMLSchema.py
index 30fdf77..bd4f39f 100644
--- a/wstools/XMLSchema.py
+++ b/wstools/XMLSchema.py
@@ -22,11 +22,7 @@ import warnings
 import logging
 from Namespaces import SCHEMA, XMLNS, SOAP, APACHE
 from Utility import DOM, DOMException, Collection, SplitQName, basejoin
-
-try:
-    from io import StringIO
-except ImportError:
-    from cStringIO import StringIO
+from StringIO import StringIO
 
 # If we have no threading, this should be a no-op
 try: