Labour Shortage Remains Number One Challenge for Forestry
Friday, April 5, 2013 @ 3:59 AM
Prince George, B.C.- Never mind the mountain pine beetle, the biggest challenge facing the forest industry is a shortage of skilled workers.
The figures are alarming. 70% of the forest industry workforce is over 40 years of age, and 27% are 55 years or more. According to Kevin Evans, CEO of the Industry Training Authority (ITA), this means the skills gap that already exists in the industry will be greatly amplified in the coming decade. As a result, companies will be waging fierce competition for skilled workers.
In the Council of Forest Industry session on skills & training, Evans pointed out that, although the province trained the most journeymen in its history last year, a big gap remains. In his opinion, the biggest obstacle is employers. For example, at the present time, only about 15% of employers in the solid wood sector actually take on apprentices.
Besides employers hiring more apprentices, solutions to the labour shortage include bringing more aboriginal people and women into trades training, instituting a co-op model whereby an apprentice could be sponsored by several employers, hiring a network of apprenticeship counsellors, and beginning more trades training in the K-12 system.
UNBC President, Dr. George Iwama says it’s also important for educational institutions and industry to collaborate. He says B.C. already has a well-articulated education and training system that is the envy of the country, and this puts BC in a good position to address the problem. While there has been much attention focused on apprenticeships, he says there is also a serious shortage of managers, auditors, and engineers in forestry as well as in other fields such as health and social services.
“Without labour, nothing prospers.” Greg Stewart of the Sinclar Group of Companies used this quote from the ancient Greek dramatist Sophocles to emphasize his point that “labour supply was the number one issue facing the forest industry today.” To that end, he says there needs to be more alignment between all stakeholder groups, including companies, unions, educational institutions, and the three levels of government. In his opinion, this skilled labour shortage exists because “we lost leadership on this issue.”
Comments
No one wants to pay the bill! The last thing Canfor wants to do is train someone who is going to quit for greener pastures. But that applies to most companies. So who is going to win in this trade shortage! Both the companies with the money and the workers themselves.
No worries though, because CNC’s numbers are down and government won’t fund the empty seats they have there now, they are starting a program to attract international trades people to fast track them to Canadian standards.
That should help a bit!
You can not get quality trades people to work in BC if you are not going to pay them the dollar..These companies want to pay anywhere from $6.00 to $15.00 dollars an hour less then Alberta..any trades person that is good and we know when we are leaves for the money…and all you crooniesthat sit on the computer and belittle us for being greedy remember everyone works for MONEY…the more I make the more I spend on stuff…no one on ei or welfare buys trucks..tralers…homes..etc.
Looks like the race to the bottom has finally come back to bite the companies in their collective butts. Why do they sound so surprised?
You hit the nail right on the head, axman!
I read only of the sawmills and pulpmills with this labor shortage…how about the logging contractors and there employees? It used to be working in the bush was good money, better then the mill workers…now you loose your personal life to live in camp, work twice as many hours as any mill worker and make very little more or the same …when will the mills and union workers realize that they will all be unemployed and closed if the fibre stays in the bush…lets stop hearing about the poor union worker and show the loggers where they sit on the totem pole. Training natives to work…what a joke…I used to work in a training facility and I will tell you they don’t want traiing, becsause they don’t want to work…lets ride for free!
prov1 is right. The mines and oil and gas pay more money than forestry. The young workers chase the money. That’s why forestry employees are older. They do the job because they like it and it’s what they are used to. They are used to the long hours that younger workers aren’t willing to work. It’s the companies like Canfor that has squeezed out every last penny that have pushed workers into Alberta.
“more aboriginal people and women”…..I guess they figure they’re willing to work cheap.
I have a nephew who works at Mount Polly mine, shop laborer, he makes $31.50 an hour, a good kid, 22 years old and a solid head on his shoulders.
A couple of weeks ago a local shop offered him apprenticeship training to become a heavy duty mechanic. He was interested and excited. Then he sat down with them for specifics. Starting wage for the 1st year? $13.00 per hour. Yes, that was one three, thirteen, 13.00.
They figured if they offered up the apprenticeship they could lowball his wages. In my day your 1st year apprenticeship payed 50% of journeyman. Journeyman in this are pays between 35 and 45.00 per hour depending on shop.
I wonder why this particular shop cant find takers on their offer? They told him they needed somebody with some experience but were willing to do the apprenticeship. Have their cake and eat it as well?
NoWay said “because CNC’s numbers are down and government won’t fund the empty seats they have there now”
Does anyone know the truth on the trades program? I have heard what NoWay said but I have also heard that there is a waiting list to get in, so which is it? Just curious…
interceptor
depends on the trades your looking at.
I think all that is missing, and I am sure the BC Liberals will provide it, is a subsidy to business to offset the cost of hiring unskilled workers to the forest sector. I am sure the hardship on business to hire an unskilled worker and have the financial burden of training him/her would be just too much for forest sector to bare in these economic hardtimes. Afterall we wouldn’t want to slow our economy down by adding pesky burdens to our “job creators”.
I used to work in the bush in the 80s/90s. I made more money then and took home more than I would today, by a large margin, and without all the fees associated with being certified or all the BS rules they have put out there just to keep more bureaucrats working. It doesn’t surprise me they can’t find anyone. I have a relative that has worked in the bush since the early 60s, he stays because he knows nothing else, but lately he is looking more closely at running equipment for a mining outfit because his wages have declined over the past 10 years. If they treat someone who has over 50 years experience like that, how do you think they look at beginners?
Albus,
Some thoughts….
This is not meant to be rude, just something to think about.
The flip side of the coin is nobody should be making $31.50 and hour for shop labour. That’s ridiculous. I work in the engineering field and I barely make that much. That’s after 2 years of BCIT butt kicking horrible labour intensive studying Tech school plus 2.5 years of work experience. He should be paid $15.00 an hour for general labour. Then maybe the apprenticeship would be enticing.
So what’s happened here is the union at the mine has brought down the availability of another skilled worker because they set their wages too high for unskilled workers.
A private shop can’t compete with that, especially when they’re training someone new who is learning and will make mistakes.
interceptor
the other internal issue at CNC is the new Trades center in Quesnel … many of the programs there are running low on enrollments because fees are higher than else where and there are limited numbers of students who want to go to Quesnel … meanwhile there are wait lists in Prince George … part of the legacy of outgoing president Bowman to pay back his Quesnel buddies for helping push him up the corporate ladder … the new Trades center in Prince George did not add new programs … just replaced old, condemned, asbestos insulated buildings.
What union Hummer?…The mine north of Fort St James and the one south of Vanderhoof are none union. Blaming a union for the low wages of the forest industry is grasping at straws.
The Ministry of Highways had the best Mechanic apprenticeship program in the country.
The govt privatized highways maintenance and “poof” it was gone.
When the industry, for short term gains, closes the mills and fires the young and old workers together, they should have thought of the long term effect on the workforce and job security in the sector.
Instead of firing people they should have offered early retirement to older workers and kept the younger work force or transferred the younger ones to other mills.
This is more a workforce maintenance problem rather than shortage.
Hummer you must be a chinese migrant worker..are you a nut no one should make 31.50 an hour…have you bought groceries…a car ..a house I doubt it ..you must have had mommy and daddy spoon feed you…and still live at home
Apparently couldn’t get that well paid union job!
Hummer’s right. $31.50/hr for shop labour is ludicrous.
The point was the comparison between unskilled labour and skilled training. Paying someone that wage with no training creates a sense of entitlement within society when the individual has done nothing to better themselves. You should have to work your way up in wages by training and work experience proving your worth before receiving the rewarded compensation.
I don’t have a problem with a wage that high if the individual is worth it.
Since when is shop labour worth that money? Sweeping the floors can be done by a 10 year old. That’s not worth $30 an hour. That’s like a summer job for a teenager, worth $10 an hour.
If the kid got $30 an hour why is that a crime?….Obviously the free market plays into wages as well, union or not, just like business you get what you can get. If a businessman makes a decision and the business cannot handle it, too bad, there is another businessman ready and willing to take his place. Its all about free enterprize, or is it only free enterprize when it comes to the corporate side?
Free enterprise… do some people even understand what that means…. I think some people are thinking free markets.. very much different from what free enterprise is.
Free Enterprise is about greater economic diversity with equal opportunity based on merits. Often free enterprise involves economic management to ensure a competitive market with competition and the rights of all stakeholders are considered… not so with free markets.
Free Markets are akin to monopoly capitalism with the lowest common denominator and opportunism rather than opportunity.
Those that use the term free enterprise to explain and legitimize free market policy are in fact enabling the monopoly capitalists and the .01% through their rhetoric that often attacks the very policy terms they seek to defend.
I work in the forestry industry and in my line of work we are just now getting back to the wages paid in the early 90’s… costs of living meanwhile have doubled or tripled in that time. That is why forestry has an older work force IMO.
The reason they pay the shop labourer $30/hour at a mine is because its a demanding job where you have to work in confined spaces cleaning out haul truck differentials. Not to mention the mines like to keep guys like this around because they are facing labour shortages of their own and realize the importance of retaining people for the long term. Young guys on mine sites who are in good shape and have a good head also make very good mine rescue team members and shift bosses. Unlike the engineers who figure they are god because they have a piece of paper in a frame behind a desk.
A business can pay someone whatever they heck they want to pay them. If they want to pay someone $100 per hour for shop labour, they can go right ahead and do that. They don’t owe it to the industry or anyone else to pay less, just so that some other company feels more entitled to pay someone $13 an hour.
Oh and I love this headline. It could very easily read:
– “Labour Shortage Remains Number One Challenge for Health Care” or
– “Labour Shortage Remains Number One Challenge for Finance” or
– “Labour Shortage Remains Number One Challenge for Oil Exploration” or
– “Labour Shortage Remains Number One Challenge for Information Technology” or . . .
The moral of the story? Virtually every industry is facing labour shortages as a result of the demographic time bomb that is about to explode and the fact that Canadians aren’t having babies like they did in past decades.
I think the bigger issue for the forestry industry is finding people who want to work in forestry. They will have to compete with virtually every other industry out there, many of which offer higher wages, better working conditions and better long-term outlooks for the viability of the industry.
Hummer,
Some thoughts for you, 31.50 an hour is a pretty normal wage today in the mining and oil sector for labor. My point is if companies want to bring solid young men into their fields of business, they have to figure out a way to pay to get them.
31.50 an hour to start, full medical benefits after only 30 days, RRSP programs, profit sharing programs. The mines today are serious about attracting quality employee’s and keeping them.
Offering somebody $13.00 per hour does not show them that you are serious about their futures.
I work in the engineering field and I barely make that much. That’s after 2 years of BCIT butt kicking horrible labour intensive studying Tech school plus 2.5 years of work experience. He should be paid $15.00 an hour for general labour. Then maybe the apprenticeship would be enticing.
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Dare I say it….you are being taken advantage of, the work you are doing is worth far more than your being paid for.
Labour is a commodity, and when there is a shortage the prices rise…..get used to it, because wages are going to rise to meet the market demand.
And we wonder why the whole idea of importing foreign workers looks so enticing to many companies. Talk about pricing yourselves out of the market.
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