**** FOR ALL SCAFFOLDERS, PLANT WORKERS WHO WORK ON SCAFFOLDS, AND WIVES, SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHOS FAMILIES WORK ON SCAFFOLDS OR ERECT THEM**** Now, heres the background: A group of non-union Alberta scaffolding employers wants (AIT) to give scaffolding an official designation that would completely undercut the values and the standards that the Alberta Regional Council of Carpenters and our employer partners have long fought for. We urgently need your help in filling out the online survey that AIT has commissioned to help guide its deliberation about the non-union employers’ request. Theres a link to the survey below in this message.. The threat: The goal of a non-union employer group called the Provisional Committee for the Industrial Scaffold Technician is to have AIT designate scaffolding as a “Designated Occupation” and to have scaffolders called Industrial Scaffold Technicians. As a designated occupation, the training stream will be essentially unregulated, subject to no–or poor–oversight. The threat to our standards is that participation in a designated occupation is voluntary and a certificate is not required by law for someone to work in the occupation. Such a decision by AIT would therefore completely undermine everything the Alberta Regional Council and our partner employers believe in with regard to training for, and working to, the highest possible standard. It would make it virtually impossible for us and our employers to achieve OUR long-term goal of having the trade designated as a compulsory occupation, meaning that certification would be absolutely necessary for everyone working at the trade. Our trade’s reputation would be at threat from people who may carry a certificate of some sort testifying to some level of competence, but their piece of paper would mean little if anything at all. We believe that the non-union employers who have begun this attempt to classify our trade have only their own interests at heart. They want to appear like they’re working to high standards, but it’s the image they want, as opposed to the reality. This group, mostly small time corporate players, simply want to beef up the appearance of their status, as opposed to truly adopting strong standards that will benefit everyone. Their proposal would see the creation of an industry ‘occupation committee’ composed of whomever, whereas in a compulsory trade, the Apprenticeship Board appoints a representative advisory committee that includes both employers and tradespeople, and AIT oversees the committee’s operation. Because the non-union proposal outlines no detail of what certification tests would involve, nothing about length of training, nothing about how formalized training would be, there’s no doubt that if the occupation were classified a Designated Occupation, the standards of training and safety provided by the non-union employers would not be anywhere near those provided by our Alberta Carpenters Training Centre and practiced by all of our members. In our view, this attempt by non-union employers will do nothing more than enshrine their ability to train to a lower level, employ people whose skills are far below our members’ skill level, and, in the end, to reduce their own costs. How You Can Help AIT has retained a company called Banister Consulting to use various opinion-gathering methods to help AIT make its decision on the non-union industry request. Please go to the following web address, and fill out Banisters opinion survey. Please say you DO NOT want the scaffolding trade classified as a Designated Occupation: banister.ab.ca/AEAEscaffolderemployeesurvey Make sure everyone you work with knows about this critical issue and completes the survey. If every member of the ARC’s scaffolding locals completes the survey, a powerful message will go to the province. This is URGENT! This is IMPORTANT! PLEASE complete the survey. banister.ab.ca/AEAEscaffolderemployeesurvey/
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 22:56:20 +0000
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