TRAINING UPDATE

Grandparenting Deadline

The deadline for all paperwork related to grandparenting for Construction Craft Worker certification is fast approaching – September 3, 2006. After that date, certificates will only be awarded for passing the trade examination. (We have had apprentices pass the exam and obtain their certificates that way.)

During the month of August, we will be contacting several members of Local 506 who have not already applied, to invite them to apply for certificates if they are qualified. Staff from the Training Centre will be at the Union Hall three Saturdays – August 12, 19, and 26 – to help with the applications.

The July Training and December, 2005 Training Updates outlined the (admittedly limited) advantages of getting a Certificate of Qualification. All that’s required is to act now.

Apprenticeship Training Postponed:

Unfortunately, we will not be taking applications for Construction Craft Worker apprenticeship training in September as we had hoped. It is unlikely we will be doing Basic in-school training this fall – and possibly not until March, 2007.

While the long-term needs of the industry indicate we will need new workers for the future, we cannot guarantee employment for apprentices being trained at this time. In fact, we have several apprentices on our out-of-work list. Until we can place them, it would be unfair to any new entrants to attend training and then have to wait for an indefinite period before being employed.

This is one of the realities of apprenticeship training. Most of the training is on-the-job. We can’t train apprentices if there aren’t enough jobs.

We will continue to train. In fact, we will be offering advanced in-school training and a Cutting & Coring program for existing apprentices this fall.