Kinew vows to make workplaces safer, prioritize Manitoba tradespeople

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This article was published 10/08/2023 (777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Citing the death of an unsupervised electrical worker on the job and a growing shortage of skilled tradespeople, the Manitoba NDP promised to make workplaces safer, ramp up training and apprenticeships and make sure government contracts prioritize hiring Manitoba workers.

“It’s time we have a government that stands up for working people from all walks of life,” NDP Leader and premier-hopeful Wab Kinew said Thursday, announcing campaign promises while flanked by caucus colleagues, candidates and Manitoba Building Trades members in hard hats and safety vests.

“I’m a big fan of unions and I’m a big fan of the rank-and-file members of unions,” Kinew said. “One of the reasons why is we share a common interest: fighting for people’s jobs.

“You’re not going to get that from the (Progressive Conservatives).”

The PCs have loosened regulations that required one-on-one supervision for apprenticeships following the 1999 workplace death of 19-year-old Michael Skanderberg. He’d been on the job for two months as a labourer for a Winnipeg electrical firm that has since relocated to Ontario. Skanderberg was replacing the lighting system at a school in Beausejour when he was electrocuted. His employer was found not to have used proper safety procedures, lacked proper schematics for the school and didn’t supervise the young helper properly. The firm was fined $27,500 for negligence but paid only a portion of it before leaving Manitoba.

Skanderberg’s parents advocated for years after his death to see Bill 14 (Electricians’ Licence Amendment Act) passed by the NDP government in 2006. It disallowed helpers from performing tasks such as the one that killed their son, required them to be in an apprenticeship program and trained, with one-on-one supervision.

In 2021, Premier Heather Stefanson’s government changed regulations to allow a 2:1 minimum ratio of apprentices to journeypersons in skilled trades. A provincial spokesperson said at the time the change would “enhance employers’ ability to grow their businesses through the apprenticeship system and help more apprentices reach certification to work in their chosen trades by giving them access to an eligible supervisor.”

The Apprenticeship and Certification Board, made up of industry stakeholders, recommended the change, the spokesperson said, noting that employers are still responsible for ensuring that safe work conditions are met for all of their employees at all times, “no matter the ratio.”

Kinew said an NDP government would restore the 1:1 apprentice-to-journeyperson ratio in an effort to prevent a workplace death such as Skanderberg’s from happening again.

“Health and safety is a sacred responsibility for a provincial government,” he said.

Without providing numbers or cost, Kinew said his party would increase the number of workplace safety inspections, as well as funding for more apprenticeships and training so Manitobans can take advantage of opportunities and well-paying jobs. The NDP would also prioritize Manitobans over out-of-province workers when government contracts are awarded, he said.

“We will always prioritize putting local people to work, we’ll make it easier to join a union and we’ll also make it easier to become an apprentice to get your Red Seal,” he said.

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Manitoba Building Trades, the organization that advocates on behalf of 13 construction unions and 10,000 skilled trades professionals, said the province is in a “severe” and growing workforce development crisis with 7,600 retirements expected by 2032.

“In the last seven years, during the worst labour shortages our industry has seen, we should’ve seen the building trades professionalize and grow but, under the PCs, that didn’t happen,” said Tanya Palson, executive director.

“We have a severe skills gap. This won’t be solved by the current PC strategy of deskilling the trades,” she said, pointing to the banning of project labour agreements, weakening apprenticeship ratios and defunding apprenticeships in favour of “micro-credentialling” workers.

In July, the PC government released its Opportunities for Economic Growth Action Plan in partnership with stakeholders and the private sector to recruit and retain workers. It included developing a micro-credentials framework that allows industry to identify and fill skills training gaps. In June, the PCs doubled funding to $4 million to develop pathways to apprenticeship in high schools.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.