UNDE - Apprenticeship Program

BRIEFING TO NATIONAL UMCC

6 JUNE 2005

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

presented by

John MacLennan
National President

BACKGROUND

In the last round of collective bargaining with Treasury Board the PSAC had a proposal for the Operational Services group, the Table 2 group, for a new article in the collective agreement on Apprenticeship. We proposed this new language because it was our hope, through the negotiations process, to encourage the establishment of a comprehensive apprenticeship program within the federal government. As you no doubt know, the final agreement we reached did not address this issue.

But that does not mean the issue has gone away. It doesn’t mean that the issue should go away. I believe we need to keep talking about the underlying problem which you will face, as a department and as an employer, in the coming years, as close to half of your current skilled trades workforce comes to retire. And I believe we need to talk about the establishment of an apprenticeship program as a solution to this long term human resources challenge that we face. Finally, I think it is critical that we talk about this together, as it is well understood within the apprenticeship community, that successful apprenticeship programs depend on union-management collaboration and agreement.

Today I want to spend a few minutes talking about apprenticeship programs. I will tell you that the federal government is supporting apprenticeship programs in many ways throughout the economy, but currently has no comprehensive program itself for supporting apprenticeship within those federal government departments which employ skilled trades workers. But I also want to talk to you about the demographics of skilled trades workers in the federal government and why you – why we – have a problem that could well become a crisis if we don’t start doing something about it now.

THE PROBLEM

Let me start with the problem you face.

Fully one-half of all Table 2 members work for the Department of National Defence – some 5500 in total. The other two big departments are Department of Fisheries and Oceans (16%) and Correctional Services Canada (11%).

Of the entire 11,000 plus Table 2 membership, some 40% are in what would be formally recognized as skilled trades – i.e. those where you expect, require and need employees to have accomplished a recognized training program leading to certification. Electricians, Plumbers, Carpenters, Firefighters, Heavy-Duty Vehicle Mechanics, Refrigeration and Air Condition Technicians, Chefs and Cooks, Stationary Engineers.

As a department you have thousands of employees in these jobs, and they are entrusted by you to maintain and repair billions of dollars worth of capital equipment and real estate holdings. Many are also hired to house, feed, protect and support the members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

About a year ago, the department provided us with data on anticipated retirements from several of the classification sub-groups where we had skilled trades workers,. The data looked at eligible and expected retirements between 2003 and 2013. Here are some of the figures:

In addition, 41% of your GL-MAN group is eligible to retire. Many of these are also certified journeypersons, but in the case of DND many GL-MAN are also tradeshelpers of one type or another – e.g. Electrical Tradeshelper, or Carpentry Tradeshelper. In other words, potential journeypersons. But even this internal group of potential hires into certified positions is eligible to retire in vast numbers.

In total, across the 11 sub-groups and classifications for which we had data, 42% of employees are expected to retire by 2013. I emphasize expected because in fact a full 50% are eligible to retire without penalty. (The “expected” retirements were done by the department based on analysis of recent retirement patterns that show that employees tend to stay beyond their eligibility dates. Expected retirement dates are the earlier of two dates: 35 years of service or 62 years of age.)

In other words, in the next 8 years or so, you face the challenge of hiring hundreds, if not thousands, of skilled trades workers.

This will not be an easy challenge, for two reasons.

First, the skilled trades generally are experiencing major demographic changes. Groups such as the Canadian Labour and Business Centre say that we face a “critical shortage” of skilled workers. Statistics Canada, the Conference Board of Canada, and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business have all issued dire warnings regarding the shortage of skilled workers, currently, and projected into the future.

Young people have not been flocking to the skilled trades they way they used to, and many educators and parents have a negative view of the skilled trades. High schools have cut their programs in these areas. The dozens of “sector councils” which jointly represent business and labour have started various public relations and advertising campaigns to try and encourage more young people to select the trades as a career, but the results in terms of trained graduates of these programs has yet to bear fruit, as I will illustrate later.

In other words, you have a scarce labour market. More and more it is going to be a seller’s market – and you’re the buyer.

So, with hundreds of skilled trades workers leaving in the next 8-10 years, you are entering into a labour market that is about to become more and more challenging and competitive, with a compensation package still well below the standards set by other employers. You will have trouble filling those positions, and unless you start acting now, you’ll find yourself in a crisis before you know it – and without the lead time you need to develop a strategy.

What happens if you don’t act? You’ll either have to move to laxer standards in terms of who you hire, or contract out even more work than you do now. The first solution means entrusting the billions of dollars in capital investments in equipment and buildings to uncertified trades workers. The second solution means upping your costs significantly – after all many of the wages paid to Table 2 members still fall below the minimum wages set by the federal government under the “fair wages” contracting program run by HRSDC.

APPRENTICESHIP

There is another solution which I think we need to look at, which is developing within the workplace a comprehensive apprenticeship program designed to provide internal candidates that will move into permanent positions.

Apprenticeship is a proven, long-standing method of training that leads to certification in a skilled trade. It represents a systematic program that combines on-the-job and in-school training which may extend from between 2-5 years depending on the trade but on average tends to be four years in duration. Approximately 80 percent of the apprentice’s time is spent in the workplace and 20 percent receiving classroom technical instruction at a post-secondary institution. Apprentices are treated as paid employees and receive incremental wage increases as they acquire additional skills.

The mutual benefits for unions, employers and apprentices are clear. Employers benefit from the fact such programs generate skilled employees, replenish and renew their aging workforce, achieve increased employee commitment and a rise in productivity due to enhanced performance. Existing union members gain new leadership skills by mentoring and teaching new workers. They also benefit from being joined by well trained co-workers. The union benefits by incorporating new members into their membership. Apprentices benefit by being supported in their education and from learning on the job.

Some other elements:

The Federal Government Role in Apprenticeship

In 2003, federal government began funding a multi-year campaign to develop and promote careers in the skilled trades; this campaign is managed by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) which has a steering committee of reps from business, government, labour, education and the trades. In addition, the government plays a major role in funding the Red Seal program, which provides a common standard for trade certification across the country for over 45 different occupations, which is run by the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship. It also supports the test bank for examinations (ICEMS – or Interprovincial Computerized Examinations Management System), as well as of conferences, committees, joint bodies and meetings dealing with apprenticeship. Federal funding is vital to achieving pan- Canadian standards.

In fall 2004, the Speech from the Throne reiterated the federal government’s strong commitment to apprenticeship, saying:

We must invest in helping workers to continuously enhance their skills to keep pace with constantly evolving workplace requirements. To that end, the Government will develop a new Workplace Skills Strategy, including steps to enhance apprenticeship systems, and to boost literacy and other essential job skills. This will be complemented by up-to-date training facilities and labour market agreements to be developed in collaboration with the provinces and territories, unions and sector councils.

This work is becoming more and more visible to the public, as there are now a half-dozen or so national web sites promoting the skilled trades, and you can see print, TV and subway and bus shelter ads promoting apprenticeship and skilled trades training.

There seems to be some considerable success in promoting apprenticeship programs. A recent Statistics Canada study called “Registered apprenticeship training programs – 2002” (published in December 2004, but based on 2002 data) found that registration in apprenticeship training hit another high in 2002. In total, in 2002 there were some 234,000 people in some sort of apprenticeship program, up 7.8% from 2001, and up 41% from 1996.

However, while Canadians are starting apprenticeship programs in record numbers, the number of completions is going down. In 2002, the number of completions declined from 18,000 to 16,000 – a 9.7% drop. Since 1996, while registrations have gone up 41%, completions have increased by just 2.5%.

So it isn’t enough to simply promote the idea and run TV advertisements. If the skill shortage is to be addressed it is going to take considerable investment in actually putting workable programs into place with employers and unions.

The need for a federal government program

So, here’s where it gets embarrassing. Even though the federal government invest millions of dollars in the “apprenticeship community,” even though all kinds of money is spent on ads, even though thousands of hours are spent by HRDSC staff in working out inter-provincial standards with the provinces, the federal government as an employer – the largest employer in the country – has no comprehensive apprenticeship program.

So while lots of other employers are learning to manage these programs, learning how to make them work to the benefit of all involved, the federal government as an employer has very little practical experience to bring to the table.

I say very little, because as some of you know, there are a few programs underway, particularly with this department. The Fleet Maintenance Facilities at Halifax and Victoria both have apprentice training programs. These programs involve collaboration with provincial ministries and with local high schools and community colleges. They involve training, mentoring, and on-the-job supervision. These programs are not only allowing the FMFs to recruit and train the next generation of trades workers, but they are also helping these departments meet their employment equity objectives. And there is involvement of the unions – both the East and West coast Ship’s Repairs collective agreements include apprentice rates of pay for apprenticeship programs.

The motivation behind these initiatives is the same as what I am talking to you about today. I will quote from an article in the January 2003 edition of the Navy’s “Maple Leaf” publication:

The average age of the Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Scott civilian workforce is 48 years. This means, by the year 2010, if everyone who could retire does retire, we will lose approximately 50 percent of our civilian workforce. This reality is a formidable challenge if the Navy is to maintain a sustainable workforce in order to meet support commitments to the Fleet.

The article goes on to talk about the development of the apprenticeship program at FMF Cape Scott.

In my view, we need to talk about expanding these programs throughout the department. We need to look at developing apprenticeship programs for other DND facilities where there are large concentrations of trades workers. We need to start with a few trades, make that work, and expand to other trades. We need to develop some experience and then build upon and expand that until there is an ongoing program, and one that could be built upon by other departments. I think this is important to do to ensure that there is a long-term stable civilian workforce within DND, but I also think it is an important contribution that the federal government needs to make to add credibility and experience to everything else it is doing on the apprenticeship front.

I don’t know all of the answers to the questions about how we start, what problems we will encounter, and what the likely solutions to those would be. I look forward to your reaction to my comments and I would particularly welcome an ongoing discussion on how to bring apprenticeship programs into place within the FPS.