Finn Johnson, CRC Director of Government Relations & Communications (FJ): Since you’ve stepped into the role of Minister of Labour, could you speak a little bit to your Ministry’s mandate and what that’s looked like?
Minister David Piccini (DP): My mandate’s really been to build an Ontario for tomorrow… And to do it, we’ve got to make sure there’s a workforce that is ready, willing and able.
There are a number of important things, like ensuring unions like the Carpenters’ Union are well poised for growth. We know they deliver fantastic outcomes, get people job ready, and are ensuring people have the practical skill sets needed for employment, and they’re recognizing the entire workforce. I’ve been really impressed by the commitment to growing women in the trades, something that’s been a big focus of our government with properly fitting PPE, Skills Development Fund, and common-sense changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
So, this is my biggest priority. Let’s build our province, hospital, schools, public transit for tomorrow’s generation. But let’s do it with an economy and a workforce that’s protected because an economy that doesn’t work for workers doesn’t work at all.
FJ: How is the Ontario government creating more work hours for UBC members with those investments you mentioned?
DP: Well, I think it’s a recognition that on these projects that we’re doing, whether it’s creating a competitive climate for foreign investment or ensuring Ontario’s an energy superpower, it’s Carpenters’ members that are getting the job done.
In my own community, there’s not a door I knock on with local carpenters that aren’t benefiting in some way from this massive growth in energy procurement. And it’s going to be members working on these sites. These are generational projects that Carpenters’ members have a chance to work on, that they’ll be able to turn around and say, these massive, consequential builds are things we worked on. And they’ll be part of a generation – like my grandfather’s generation – that will once again be able to say, we built that…
I have a profound appreciation [for the trades industry]. My dad’s an architect and my grandfather was in the steel union. I see the commitment of the Carpenters’ Union to ensure we have a next generation job ready, and I don’t think our post-secondary system has always been focused on those job skills and getting people right into jobs as perhaps they should have been. And we’re recognizing for the first time in Ontario’s history that making investments in unions and union training is important to us, important to building the things we need to build in Ontario.
FJ: That’s great to hear, and that leads nicely into my next question about the Skills Development Fund (SDF). Could you speak about the success of that fund and the types of projects you’re looking forward to investing in, in future rounds of SDF?
DP: This is a massive move in Ontario for employer-driven training that really forces linkages between employer training agents and a workforce, and I think that has been a real catalyst. As we move forward, we have to be a province that recognizes micro-credentials, recognizes learning while you earn, and that’s something [the Carpenters’ Union] do an exceptional job at. But we have to build a resilient workforce that is well trained, because we’ve got the best workers in the world, and we have to invest in them to make sure that they have the latest skill sets, are using the latest technology, and the latest equipment, so that we can be a productive workforce.
Our declining productivity as a nation, I think, is our greatest existential threat… Key to addressing that is investing in skills training and development, investing in tools and machinery, with apprenticeships, capital grants, and investments in bricks and mortar through SDF capital. We’re doing that in partnership with the Carpenters’. They deserve a government that co-invests with them, and that’s what we’re doing. This isn’t a top-down approach. This is from the grassroots up. Our total investments with SDF to Carpenters’ exceeds $20 million.
FJ: It means a lot to UBC members to see that investment. It’s all about making sure tailored solutions are brought to the table.
Could I ask what UBC members could look forward to in the immediate future?
DP: There are some things happening with Working for Workers Six that I’d love to talk about. This is a direct result of work we’ve done together by expanding PPE protection for women across all body shapes, all sizes, across all sectors. Our new job protected leave, which introduces a 16-week unpaid leave for adoptive and surrogacy parents, and a 27-week leave for long term illness – that’s been a big piece. We’re working with health associations on cleaner washrooms. It sounds rather obvious, but we’re the first province in Canada to include these measures in our Occupational Health and Safety Act. [We are] reducing, waiving the fee for exams, putting more money back in the pockets of hard-working carpenters, members and our next generation of workers, so they’re not hit with a “you’ve got to pay a fee and register.”
This builds on previous actions that we’ve had in Working for Workers bills. But stay tuned for continued investments and Skills Development Fund training, making sure UBC members have the latest equipment, have more opportunities to train, more opportunities to get the next generation – again, shout out for the great job UBC has done in attracting women into the trades – and making sure that no matter where you are in Ontario, in every corner of Ontario, we’re working with UBC leadership to improve training facilities through SDF capital.
