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The construction industry in Canada is cyclical. At one time, in the not too distant past, weather was one of the few determining factors as to when a project would begin and end. Now the factors, which govern these decisions, are much more complex. With new building materials and innovative tools and techniques weather now plays a small part in scheduling. On the other hand, permits, fees, labour disputes, financing, licensing and municipal approvals play a much larger and less predictable role in the process of completing a job.
Thompson Electric had been promised access to a 100,000 man-hour market between Sept 2004 and Jan 2005 in conjunction with two other shops. Not one of the six-job plans proceeded as intended. We therefore had to layoff, lend out or displace some 35 people we had to start our summer 2004 projects.
Unfortunately, we in the construction business do not make a product that can be stored and sold when the demand allows. We provide a just-in-time product which is directly related to supply of materials, work schedules and the trades around us.
We, therefore, must develop a workforce that is both flexible and motivated to react to this almost impossible situation. Construction trades are necessary to provide the high quality and dependability demanded by today’s consumer.
The day of a tradesperson being some kind of unique individual with a narrow scope of abilities is over. The variety of education and skills demanded on today’s construction worksites are without boundaries. Life long education is a must.
Today’s tradesperson is a knowledgeable individual, male or female, capable of working in hands-on situations, but even more important they are articulate, able to plan and supervise. Overall, they are competent individuals who rise to the challenges of an ever-changing market.
We cannot create a false demand by limiting supply of these people through restrictive and unfair entry requirements. We, the contractors, do not determine the market, the consumer does. The consumer is a demanding force these days and has little patience for a vendor that cannot supply.
We at Thompson Electric feel that we could be supervising and training many more apprentices then we are presently; but cannot due to restrictive trade ratios. We could put more apprentices in a service truck with experienced electricians. At projects with repetitive work tasks an apprentice could be monitored and allowed to perform tasks under the supervision of a skilled tradesperson capable of teaching as well as also insuring quality control. Many of these tasks may be redundant and boring to an experienced tradesperson, where as an apprentice could learn the basic skills and be challenged on each of these tasks.
There seems to be an unrealistic fear that if we train a surplus of apprentices then the training will be wasted. We have found that a competent tradesperson can excel in almost any vocation and is particularly competent at running their own business or providing a quality service to sales departments engineering firms and retail and wholesale businesses.
Good training is never wasted and if we are to compete in a global economy, the Unions, government and businesses must pull together to supply a group of people ready and willing to do the job when it comes around.
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