Camosun president addresses chamber
On January 29, Camosun College president Kathryn Laurin addressed the role of the college as a key economic driver for business and the city at the Victoria Chamber of Commerce’s business leaders luncheon. Presently, skills shortages can be found in shipbuilding, construction, mechanical trades, healthcare, and technology. Laurin spoke on how Camosun has enthusiastically made a decision to meet those demands. The federal and provincial governments granted the college $35 million to help create a new trades education and innovation building at the Interurban campus in response to the growing demand for skilled labor and technical workers. Camosun is also focused on training more registered nurses, athletic therapists, continuing care assistants, and community mental health specialists to meet demands for skilled healthcare employees, all points that Laurin related to the chamber.
Provincial job deficit on the horizon
According to the BC labour market profile, a severe skills shortage will hit the province in 2016, and it will continue to grow until decisions are made to improve access to postsecondary education. If action isn’t taken, approximately 18,800 jobs will go unfilled due to the significant number of unqualified British Columbians by the year 2020, according to the profile. Out of the unfilled jobs, 8,400 will require a university degree, 8,100 a college credential, and 2,300 trades training. “To secure tomorrow’s jobs and to power a strong economy driven by new ideas and innovation, BC needs to expand the capacity of its nationally recognized postsecondary system and make it possible for every qualified British Columbian to build a bright future,” said University of Victoria president David Turpin in a press release.
UVic employees ratify agreement
John Yap, minister of advanced education, innovation and technology, recently announced that the University of Victoria and CUPE Local 4163 Component III have ratified their agreement under the 2012 Cooperative Gains Mandate. The two-year agreement provides for wage increases funded from savings found within existing budgets, as required under the 2012 Cooperative Gains Mandate. The provincial government has stated that there aren’t adequate funds available for wage increases. The Cooperative Gains Mandate provides public-sector employers with the ability to negotiate modest wage increases funded from savings within existing budgets, not adding costs to taxpayers and ratepayers, and not sacrificing services.
Community workers strike
More than 800 community living workers from 10 different agencies in Victoria went on strike on Thursday, January 31. Members of The Hospital Employees’ Union were on strike from 8 am to 4 pm on Blanshard Street between Tolmie and Cloverdale in an attempt to get higher wages for their sector. Community Social Services (CSS) reps say funding is less than adequate and workers are underpaid. CSS workers are among the most underpaid employees in the public sector and wages have decreased by $1 over the past 10 years. CSS claims many workers can’t make ends meet and have taken on a second job, while some have decided to leave the sector for good. The striking workers are employed by over 10 organizations, which include Beacon Support Services, Community Living Victoria, and Crossroads Human Services.
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The alarm over this looming “job-deficit”–poorly worded, as a first glance implies a lack of positions, not workers–is disingenuous at best. Despite looking the other way, we are still in a recession; our country, and many others across the world, still have high unemployment rates–even higher among those under 25. Saying there’s a shortage of workers to fill jobs to an unemployed person is the verbal equivalent of kicking them in the crotch!
It’s no surprise that UVic and other post-secondary institutions are trumpeting this report of worker shortages: they simply want more students to enroll and pay skyrocketing tuitions! This is the same reason why schools go out of their way to recruit foreign students, ostensibly in the name of “diversity”: they have to pay higher–more than double–tuition fees. (Money, dear boy!)
And what do we get out of our post-secondary education? Six-digit debt and being snubbed by employers sneering that we have no “real world” skills (regardless that they themselves are unqualified for the positions they hold by today’s standards and likely did not achieve these positions through genuine merit). If industry leaders are so concerned over our lack of skills, why don’t they get off their gilded asses and provide the specific training needed to perform jobs! After all, there’s already a surplus of labour available, and they themselves say that schools aren’t cutting it.
Let me butcher one last metaphor: How do you get your foot in the door if the door is locked (and kicking it down is a faux pas that prohibits entry anyways)?