Unions and other professional groups in Alberta are coming together in an effort to address concerns over looming labour shortages in the oil sector.
“We as an industry have an interest in making sure we have the skilled labour we need to grow the industry going forward,” said Dave Collyer, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. “There’s no one solution to this challenge. We’re going to work on quite a number of things.”
Such things being worked on include training, immigration, and labour mobility. The CAPP is working with a number of construction trade unions across the country to identify and address labour market concerns.
A recent federal report estimated that over the next six years, approximately 180,000 new jobs would be created in the construction industry, but 200,000 skilled trades workers will be retiring in that same time period.
Building and Construction Trades Department representative Robert Blakely specified a number of strategies that are being examined in hopes of maintaining current productivity levels.
“We need to work jointly to attract more Canadians into the skilled trades, provide more classroom and employment-based training opportunities, improve incentives to move within Canada for work, and as needed, increase both permanent and temporary immigration,” said Blakely. “More skilled people who are mobile, certified and ready to work is a win-win.”
Source: Calgary Herald