TRAINING UPDATE

What Trade Certification Means

On a busy Saturday in November, 40 members of Local 506 completed applications for the Certificate of Qualification as Construction Craft Workers. (The total now is well into the hundreds.) A question asked frequently was “What advantage is there having a certificate?” In other words, why apply? What does the certificate do for the certificate-holder?

The short answer: At this time, not very much. It is recognition for skills and experience, and the certificate can be framed and put on the wall. But, Construction Craft Worker is a voluntary trade, meaning it is not a requirement for working in the trade to be a certified journeyperson or a registered apprentice. And it almost certainly will never be a compulsory trade; that is, it will never be a legal requirement to have a certificate. No trade has been made compulsory in Ontario since 1981. A Ministry of Labour inspector is unlikely ever to throw a worker off a site for not having a CCW certificate.

Possession of a certificate might be accepted as evidence the worker is qualified to perform certain tasks. At some point in the future, it’s possible employers or owners may prefer or even demand certificate-holders for work on given projects. In Alberta, possession of a Construction Craft Labourer certificate (CCL in Alberta = CCW in Ontario) gets a premium for work on some projects in Fort MacMurray ($1.75 per hour). There are no such situations at present in Ontario.

Another point to be made is that if a Labourer misses out on the grandparenting, he or she is not prevented from obtaining a certificate. Anyone with 3,000 hours of experience in the trade can write the Construction Craft Worker trade examination. After August, 2006, that will be the only way to get a certificate, but the option is available at present. But the exam is available now for completing apprentices and others.

Competencies

Some of the applicants for grandparenting were unable to check off all the competencies on the Attestation of Competencies. The most frequently missed item was Blueprint Reading, followed by Hoisting and Rigging. Short courses are planned for these individuals to allow them to complete their certificate applications. The first up are classes in Blueprint Reading:

Saturday, January 21, 2006, and
Saturday, February 11, 2006

Both classes will be at the Union Hall. For more information, call the Union Hall at 905-883-4268.