Province blocking entry to skilled trades

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This article was published 21/06/2021 (1954 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AT a time when construction is below pre-pandemic levels, Manitoba is implementing policies that threaten to make the problem worse rather than addressing it.

Manitoba, like the rest of the country, is going to need skilled trades workers to build, maintain and repair infrastructure and foster economic recovery. To ensure we have the skilled tradespeople to do that, we need opportunities for a coming generation to get the hands-on training they need to complete their apprenticeships.

But recent steps by the Manitoba government threaten to do the opposite. In fact, they are setting the province on a course to lose a generation of skilled trades professionals.

Let’s start with Bill 13, the Public Sector Construction Projects (Tendering) Act. It will prohibit project labour agreements (also known as community benefit agreements, or CBAs).

This will take away valuable opportunities for Manitoban apprentices to learn the trades on publicly funded projects in Manitoba. In a complex industry with a contingent workforce, labour agreements such as these create entrance opportunities for under-represented groups and mandate apprenticeship advancement on a project-by-project basis.

We need procurement policies such as CBAs that include hiring requirements for apprentices on publicly-funded projects. We need to ensure public dollars maximize opportunities for Manitobans and continue to build a skilled workforce, especially at a time of economic uncertainty.

Bill 13 has snatched away an important policy tool to do that.

Then there is Bill 55, the Reducing Red Tape and Improving Services Act, which will reduce opportunities for young people. It repeals the Apprenticeship Employment Opportunities Act and removes the requirement to hire apprentices on public construction projects.

Apprentices already struggle to find on-the-job training hours. This is a critical barrier to completing apprenticeship and becoming a journeyperson. Public infrastructure projects are a large piece of the construction industry, and therefore a key opportunity for apprentices to gain their hours.

The Manitoba government may claim it supports apprentices. This action proves the opposite.

Thirdly, recent changes to the apprentice-to-journeyperson ratio, from 1:1 to 2:1, will decrease mentorship and training opportunities.

Ratios ensure a proper balance of trained journeypersons to apprentices. We want an apprentice to get a range of experiences, but also have the oversight and guidance to learn and be safe on the job, and successfully complete apprenticeship.

Balancing ratios ensures there are incentives for apprentices to complete their apprenticeships and job opportunities for journeypersons.

The province claims changing the ratio will increase apprenticeship registration and get more Manitobans into the skilled trades. However, it doesn’t appear that the left hand is talking to the right, when you consider the previously mentioned actions that see the government stepping back from its critical role in apprenticeship opportunity.

Finally, the idea of supplementing apprenticeship training with micro-credential programs is currently being floated among policy-makers. This means that instead of training carpenters, Manitoba will break the carpentry trade up into small pieces, with the expectation that someone taking these short courses will somehow become a proficient carpenter.

Advocates say it’s a faster way to get people working. But in reality, it will create an unskilled workforce that will face continued barriers to personal economic growth. Coming generations need — and deserve — the benefits of hands-on learning and the mentorship of skilled journeypeople to learn their trade.

The provincial government’s half-baked ideas are not new. Manitoba should look at similar initiatives in B.C. in the early 2000s, which decimated the skilled workforce and increased the injury rate among the province’s tradespeople to four times that of their counterparts in Ontario.

Manitoba has a younger population compared to other provinces, notes BuildForce Canada, a national organization representing all sectors of the construction industry. “Having said that, all industries are faced with aging populations, and this is likely to increase competition for qualified workers,’’ said Bill Ferreira, BuildForce Canada’s executive director.

The provincial government needs to consult experts in construction before making unilateral changes that lead to long-term damage to Manitoba’s economy.

Sean Strickland is Executive Director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions, an alliance of 14 international unions in the construction, maintenance and fabrication industries that collectively represent over half a million skilled trades workers in Canada.