The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 2486 has turned the sod on a new $1.5 million training centre in Sudbury.
The 8,400-square-foot facility located in Azilda, a suburb of the city, will train both experienced workers and apprentices in building trades such as carpentry, drywall and resilient flooring.
It's the first training facility of its kind in Northern Ontario and will offer continuing education for skilled tradespeople on new products and techniques for construction workers.
The centre should open its doors by December 1.
Senior union rep Tom Cardinal says it's a difficult transition for carpenters to switch from home building to more commercial and industrial projects.
"The guy that builds a house cannot build the type of construction we build," says Cardinal, in adding that the ICI (Industrial-Commercial-Institutional) market is a big economic driver with almost 800 of their unionized carpenters fully employed.
To meet current demands, some carpenters not used to ICI construction will be brought into the new training centre to upgrade their skills and safety training before stepping onto a mine site with Xstrata Nickel and Vale Inco.
The union is currently short 67 carpenters and drywallers based on orders to fill in Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay and Parry Sound.
On top of the immediate shortage, there are two upcoming mine-related projects at Vale Inco in Sudbury that are going to require more tradespeople.
"The economy in the North has gone crazy with the mining industry ramping up and the demands that are going to be required for the Ontario Power Generation projects on the Mattagami waterway."
Cardinal says there's about $2.5 billion worth of dam construction from OPG on the upper and lower Mattagami. Cardinal estimates about 300 carpenters will be needed for that job alone.
As well, there's numerous big box store construction in Timmins and commercial development, plus hospital construction in Mattawa, North Bay and Sudbury.
Most of these projects are on schedule but if the market can't supply the labour, construction time lines will fall behind.
The demand for apprentices is there, but the industry is lacking qualified journeymen to teach the apprentices. "That's one of the big gaps we have to fill," says Cardinal.
The new facility also should cut down on training travel costs. Normally, if a course couldn't be shipped north, people would be sent south to the Carpenters District Council training head office in Hamilton, or to the International Training Centre in Las Vegas, where course curriculum is written and developed.
The new Azilda building will be outfitted with a classroom and facilities to teach various types of form-work, drywall, and blueprint reading. There are also course in foreman training, forklift safety training and welding classes to periodically re-certified tradespeople.
Platform safety training is huge with more than 150 local scaffolders in the local union that service mining companies in Sudbury, Timmins, and forestry giant Domtar. An average course size will be about 15 to 20 people.
Cardinal says there shouldn't be any duplication with Cambrian College. "These are courses to upgrade journeyman and apprentice skills. It's not apprenticeship training."
The centre will be open to all as a result of the $488,000 Northern Ontario Heritage Fund contribution. "If you're a carpenter and you want to get trained, the carpenter's union will not turn you away. We welcome any carpenter," says Cardinal.
They fill the gaps by trying to get as much media attention as possible. "We knew this was coming and that's why we went to the ministry to see if we could put a new training facility."
The average of the membership is about 38 years old, "which is darn good, and will get us over the next boom time that comes around."
The union markets itself with ads in the trade publications to attract attention.
Cardinal says at $41 an hour for a carpenter, "We pay the best in the business and have the best benefits package...but it's difficult."
