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AG Report Confirms Provincial Apprenticeship Program in Disarray
November 25, 2008
The B.C. Federation of Labour welcomes the Auditor General’s highly critical report on the Provincial Industry Training Authority (ITA).
“The Campbell government destroyed the system without adequate planning, left it for two years and replaced it with a poorly designed system,” says Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour. “We have to rebuild the system in full consultation with labour and labour must be included in the governance of the ITA process in the future.”
“We have made some inroads onto training boards and committees but have done this without any support from the Industry Training Authority and only after tough negotiations with employers,” says Brian Cochrane, Assistant Business Manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
“The Ministry has to make good on a commitment not only to regularly review capacity, but to add the spaces, resources and funds for post-secondary institutions so they can continue to provide quality trades training,” says Darryl Walker, President of the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union.
“We are pleased to see that the Attorney General’s report makes many of the same recommendations that we’ve made for the last four years,” says Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators. “The policies of the ITA have forced universities and colleges across the Province to cancel programs leaving apprentices high and dry at a time when we have a skills shortage.”
“Apprentices spend 80 percent of their apprenticeship training with employers who often times do not have the capacity to provide adequate mentoring,” says Michelle Laurie, President of Local 258 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. “The monitoring and oversight of this part of the training is absolutely inadequate and as a result many of these employers are failing to fulfill the needs of apprentices.”
The government needs to acknowledge that BC’s apprenticeship program is a mess and begin to rebuild it in full partnership with labour and educators.
For more information: Evan Stewart, Director of Communications (604) 220-3095.
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