The Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 607 is hosting a full house of high school students in Thunder Bay who want to learn about the skilled trades industry.
Andy Nieweglowski, director of training at the union local in Thunder Bay, said it used its skill development fund to attach a program to their curriculum that will reach youths who are either in or coming out of high school.
“We do a lot of trades workshops here where we get 30 to 40 students out here, and we don’t know if we have an impact on them or not,” Nieweglowski said. “These people are a vital pipeline to employment. If we can get a certain number in here, qualify them, and then put them in our database, we can now track how they make out throughout their whole career if they do choose to follow through with skilled trades.”
He added that the union’s fundamental goal is to have youths involved to pursue a career in skilled trades.
Gary Christian, executive director of the North Superior Workforce Planning Board, was on hand at LIUNA Local 607 to see firsthand how the students are being trained. He says companies and organizations are looking for workers “right across the board.”
“First of all, we have to look at Northwest Ontario as a whole. We have an old population; it’s getting older, and estimates from Statistics Canada and other organizations predict by 2035, one in five people working today are going to retire,” Christian said. “Thunder Bay is a little bit worse off in terms of that because by 2030, we’re looking at almost 11 per cent of the population amongst those retirements that are going to be a bunch of journey persons and tradespeople, and we’re only at 2026. That’s why a program like this is excellent.”
He added that if they can give youths that are interested in the trades an opportunity to explore it, they might be able to convince them to consider pursuing a career in the trades.
Christian pointed out the “mining sector is exploding in terms of workforce.”
“That’s going to continue. Construction’s continuing. We see development going on around us all the time. But we need tradespeople and apprentices to keep that construction going,” he said.
Nieweglowski added that the union is starting a program aimed at new Canadians that will teach them how to build tiny houses.
“The problem we’re having, we can see it already, is they’re coming in to train but are so desperately needed for jobs that they are leaving to take on the employment out there,” he said. “Instead of accumulating all these people to put in a program, we’re putting them straight to work.”
Jordyn Jones, a Confederation College welding graduate, practised operating a skid steer, which she called more complicated because the foot pedals are the bucket.
“I’m stressing out, but I’m getting the hang of it,” she laughed. “I aspire to be a welder, and I’m already all certified. I’m just looking for work.”
Jones added that the training program is excellent for women.
“They do a lot of women-in-trades events, and I’ve been to so many of them, and they treat us so well,” she said. “I just think women need to get in the trades more because this is phenomenal stuff.”
