March 18, 2008

Adjusting journeyperson-to-apprentice ratios won’t solve labour challenge, some industry officials warn

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

An overhaul of Ontario’s journeyperson-to-apprentice ratios will not make the immediate impact to the construction industry’s labour challenges that some may expect, say two industry stakeholders.

“Ratios are a numbers game. We still think the issue is more about the structure of apprentice training on the job,” says George Gritziotis, executive director of the Construction Sector Council (CSC). “It is about the quality of the on-the-job training. Apprentice training has a lot of layers and you have to look at the whole picture.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) recently renewed its call for changes to Ontario’s apprenticeship programs because long-term vacancies in industries such as construction are on the rise. The national long-term vacancy rate rose to 4.4 per cent in 2007 from 3.6 per cent the previous year, meaning 309,000 jobs went unfilled. Ontario’s rate jumped to 3.5 per cent from 2.6 per cent.

The CFIB said that “rigid journeyperson/apprentice ratios fixed by the government” limit a company’s ability to take on apprentices. Requiring employers to employ a certain number of journeypersons before they can add apprentices is difficult for smaller employers.

Pat Dillon of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, says the labour challenges facing Ontario construction go well beyond what ratio changes will deliver.

“Generally, the government listens to industry partners about apprentice training and they are pretty aware of what the needs are,” says Dillon.

“We all have and are aware of the demographic challenges facing us.”

The CSC’s construction labour requirement forecast from 2007 to 2015 for Ontario indicates that over the next nine years Ontario’s construction industry needs 50,000 workers to replace retirees and another 35,000 to keep pace with steady market growth.

Dillon adds that while the industry looks at temporary workers and immigration as keys to helping with labour shortages, training is still important.

“We have a responsibility to Canadian youth who are under-employed, like those flipping burgers, and are under-trained,” says Dillon.

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) has made creating closer ties with Canada’s community colleges to try and increase trades training capacity in the college system a priority. The CCA hopes to join the Association of Canadian Community Colleges to lobby the federal government for more funding for colleges.

In September 2007 journeyperson-apprentice ratio changes were made in the Trades Qualification and Apprenticeship Act. Officials from both the Canada Masonry Centre and the Architectural Glass and Metal Contractors Association noted the new ratios were a good modernization of the Act and allowed for more flexibility.

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