Manitoba apprenticeship ratio reduction ‘concerning,’ company says – Winnipeg | 24CA News
Stakeholders are questioning what’s subsequent after the Manitoba authorities introduced will probably be flattening the variety of apprentices that may be assigned to a journeyperson with a brand new apprenticeship ratio.
On Wednesday, the province stated the regulation can be introduced from 2:1 to 1:1, which was initially instituted after Michael Skanderberg died engaged on the job in 1999. It was modified to 2:1 in 2021.
Ron Hambley, president of the Winnipeg Construction Association (WCA), stated it was modified for good motive.
“Our members literally had ample and robust discussions about appropriate ratios in the industry, and settled on the 2:1,” he stated. “Frankly, the industry was OK with that. Two-to-one lets the industry grow at a reasonable, manageable pace, and in general, the industry was pretty pleased with that situation.”
Now, Hambley wonders how an already present workforce scarcity will likely be crammed, particularly wanting down the barrel of 1000’s of building employees quickly to retire.
“The industries that we’re attempting to staff up with higher numbers of apprentices are going to be in a dire situation,” he stated, including that layoffs are possible on the books.
“If you have five journeypersons currently, you can have up to 10 apprentices. If the rules change, which we anticipate they will, it’ll get rolled back to five. So five of those apprentices will have to find something else to do,” he stated.
The WCA studies 65 per cent of its members will likely be compelled to let apprentices go.
One of these corporations may very nicely be PowerTec Electric Inc.
“It’s concerning for us,” stated Daniel Hartley, president of the business.
“As an employer, we’re certainly going to feel the impacts of that through layoffs of apprentices, or not being able to hire the apprentices that we need,” he stated.
Right now, Hartley stated the corporate employs about 30 apprentices, which is simply over a 1:1 ratio.
“But we’re in the process of hiring right now. We would hire more apprentices than we would journeymen to try and fill the gaps and the needs that we have for the work we get,” he stated.
Jamie Moses, the minister of financial growth, funding, commerce and pure sources, stated “We’re still going to continue to grow our skilled trades.”
“We know that’s an important area to grow in our workforce, and we’re going to do that by investing in training seats,” he stated.
Moses didn’t touch upon what number of coaching seats can be opening, saying that data can be accessible within the upcoming finances.
He stated the hope of the ratio discount is to “encourage people to go into the skilled trades by ensuring that it’s going to be high-quality and ensure that it’s very safe.”
However, Hartley stated the discount seems like backtracking.
“Over the past few years, we’ve had a number of programs in place that have allowed us to hire apprentices — especially new and first-level apprentices — to get them into the trade,” he stated.
“So we’ve taken advantage of a lot of these subsidies and incentives to get people into the trades. Now, we feel like the rug has sort of been pulled out from under us, and they’re saying now you’ve got to take away some of these opportunities from these people.”
Hartley echoed Hambley’s concern about an growing old workforce.
“If we can only hire one apprentice for every journeyman, as those people retire, we’re hardly replacing them. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for growth in the economy,” he stated.
Not solely this, however he stated with a ratio discount, there’ll possible be an influence on owners’ pockets.
“We’re able to provide good training with a 2:1 ratio while keeping costs down for the builder who’s just experienced unprecedented interest rate hikes and material inflation. Now the labour is going to go up again.”
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