TRAINING UPDATE

Precarious Employment

Precarious Employment, formerly known as Non-Standard Employment is a topic of interest to academics who study the economics, politics and sociology of work and to trade unions. The title refers to those whose employment is part-time, temporary or seasonal. Individuals in these situations often have few or no benefits, receive little or no training – have no status.

We have always had such work. In older, agricultural communities it was fairly easy to handle this (although the workers still had little or no status). We still have seasonal labour in agriculture, jobs often filled by temporary visitors from Mexico, the Caribbean and elsewhere. There has been an increase in the proportion of the workforce affected this way with the growth of the service sector and the perceived need for flexibility in manufacturing and other trades.

When Office Overload first started in business over thirty years ago, many hoped this represented a short-term phenomenon. But we still have such organizations providing temporary help for offices and for other businesses, including construction. There is a conference on Precarious Work being held in Toronto in November. A union conference in October includes workshops on organizing people in these situations.

Most of the members of Local 506 who work in the Exhibits & Displays sector could be defined as part-time – in terms of having different employers paying for their services depending on which of several trade show contractors is responsible for the events being held at the time. Many of these “part-time” workers are able to make a good living. The union acts as a “temp” agency, dispatching workers as needed. And the union coordinates benefits and training. (The trade show contractors are very happy to have a supply of trained workers.)

We believe many other sectors could benefit from using this model, one example being hospitality. It would improve the lives of the workers involved, improve the ability of employers to plan, and make the whole sector more competitive.

Applications being accepted

As of September 1, we will again be accepting applications for training as Construction Craft Worker apprentices. We will not be training large numbers of apprentices this fall and next spring, but we will be conducting at least two classes. Applications can be obtained at the Union Hall or at the Training Centre, or can be completed on-line at www.506tc.org.