After years of working several unfulfilling desk jobs, B.C.91裸聊视频檚 Liz Barrett wanted a change.
She looked around and came across the Workplace Alternative Trades Training or 91裸聊视频淲ATT91裸聊视频� Program, a program run by the Western Joint Electrical Training Society and designed to get people through the initial barriers of learning a trade.
Getting into the course is competitive, but if you do, those enrolled can complete their initial safety courses for free and then be set up with the electrician union and job placement.
Within weeks, Barrett had found a placement with a Victoria electrician and was loving her position. She was a hard worker, biking to worksites with her tools in one backpack, and her lunch and a change of clothes in another.
The position was part of her electrician apprenticeship 91裸聊视频� which usually lasts four years and is split between work periods and studying for school.
Then after around a year, Barrett got pregnant with twins, meaning she had to go on maternity leave earlier than she would have wanted. After giving birth, Barrett planned to stay on maternity leave for a year and then return where she left off with her apprenticeship.
But 21 months after her twins were born, and 27 months after she went on maternity leave, Barrett still hasn91裸聊视频檛 been able to return to work because she can91裸聊视频檛 find any child care.
She91裸聊视频檚 been trying for months to find a space, but the race for child-care spots in Greater Victoria is competitive. The opportunities are even tighter because of the nature of trades work, where Barrett would often have to be on-site for 7 a.m., which rules out a lot of daycare centres that open later.
91裸聊视频淚 haven91裸聊视频檛 ever talked to like an employer about, 91裸聊视频楬ey, can I start later?91裸聊视频� because I don91裸聊视频檛 want to be that person that gets quote unquote, special treatment, even though it91裸聊视频檚 not, it91裸聊视频檚 just the only way you can make something work because of the situation. It91裸聊视频檚 brutal out there. I phone all the time. And I91裸聊视频檓 like, 91裸聊视频業s there any movement? Is there any movement?91裸聊视频� And nobody really seems to have any.91裸聊视频�
That slow culture change is another problem that91裸聊视频檚 plaguing an industry that is 91裸聊视频渢ortuously inflexible,91裸聊视频� according to Nick Black, a carpenter and owner of Cavetto Carpentry.
Black91裸聊视频檚 company is a small, four-man team and has been looking to expand but is struggling to find a 91裸聊视频渦nicorn,91裸聊视频� his term for a trained apprentice who91裸聊视频檚 ready and available to work.
91裸聊视频淭he trades have notorious negative sides to it, that are kind of stigmatized right now. I think a lot of people have this standard view of the trades, which isn91裸聊视频檛 great. But I think the trades are also very, very slow to change and it just can91裸聊视频檛 afford to do that anymore. The whole industry needs to really modernize and update because we91裸聊视频檙e not just competing with each other for labour, we91裸聊视频檙e competing with every other industry that has made those changes.91裸聊视频�
Black says a number of problems plague the trades, including kids being turned off them by parents and schools when they91裸聊视频檙e young, and companies who take on apprentices but use them for cheap labour instead of proper learning opportunities. Added to that are the child-care issue, pay, as well as a lack of affordable housing crisis, parking at worksites and a lack of benefits.
91裸聊视频淚 think on one end, our hand and the industry91裸聊视频檚 hand is being forced because just otherwise people just aren91裸聊视频檛 going to do it,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淲e have to bend over backward for our people. But also, I think that91裸聊视频檚 the right way it should be.91裸聊视频�
Black said he91裸聊视频檚 been looking for a benefits package for his team, but it91裸聊视频檚 hard to manage the overhead with such a small team.
On child care, Black suggested small contractor companies should band together and establish a child-care facility for their members, one that would offer cheap spots that work with the typical schedule of a tradesperson. That would be an innovative solution but a complicated one to get running, admitted Black.
In the meantime, the shortage of workers is only set to increase.
A Royal Bank of Canada report released in September 2021 forecasted that 700,000 tradespeople out of the four million working in Canada would retire by 2028. That combined with flawed recruitment means Canada will face a shortage of at least 10,000 workers in every nationally recognized Red Seal 91裸聊视频� a national trades certification 91裸聊视频� trade by 2026.
That91裸聊视频檚 hurting businesses.
A survey conducted by Canadian Manufactures and Exporters of over 500 manufacturers found that over the past year (the report came out in October 2022), 62 per cent of manufacturers had lost or turned down contracts and faced delays due to a lack of workers, leading to $7.2 billion in lost sales and penalties for late delivery. Meanwhile, 43 per cent of companies had postponed or cancelled capital projects because of labour shortages, leading to $5.4 billion in lost investment.
But it also means people like Barrett are being held back or in other cases left out entirely.
91裸聊视频淚 finished one of my years of schooling when I was around 32 weeks pregnant. So I91裸聊视频檓 ready to go back to work and build up my hours.91裸聊视频�
At the beginning of 2022, the federal government announced nearly $1 billion annually in apprenticeship supports through grants, loans, tax credits. But Black says there needs to be a societal shift if the shortage of tradespeople is going to be properly addressed.
91裸聊视频淭here needs to be that shift in mentality in the public as well, that the trades are needed and something to be respected, not like, 91裸聊视频極h, you91裸聊视频檙e, a lower class of person.91裸聊视频� Well, you hired us to help you and that91裸聊视频檚 what we91裸聊视频檙e here to do. You need us, the world needs trades. They need craftsmen that can do this stuff, and do it well.91裸聊视频�
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