THUNDER BAY — "It's going to be a home run," predicted Andy Nieweglowski, director of training for local 607 of the Labourers International Union of North America.
He was speaking Monday about the anticipated outcome of a residential construction worker training program for women.
The nine-week, women-only course is being offered for the first time in Thunder Bay this summer.
It's fully-funded by the Ontario government, so there's no charge to participate, and a subsidy is available for those requiring child care.
Nieweglowski said the program will help fill the need for construction workers in the city while providing an opportunity for women to gain experience that could lead to a satisfying career.
"This is a good start, and they'll come out with a lot more experience with what happens on the job site. Maybe they've had children early in life, and they are ready to look at, you know, 'what do I do now?'...They'll get a lot of skills, and perhaps get into an apprenticeship as a general carpenter, which we sponsor also."
He said women are underutilized in the construction industry, perhaps in part because they're reluctant to work in an environment that's been so male-dominated.
"We want them to come in here and participate. We need people. We're always recruiting here at the local, and so are the other unions. This just opens the door so you take a closer look at what might interest you, but more importantly so you can work on a job site with confidence."
Training for the first group of two cohorts of a dozen women each is set to begin on July 21 at the LiUNA training centre on Balmoral Street.
Skills that will be taught over the two-month program include the installation of flooring systems, wall-framing, roof-framing, exterior finishing, and how to install windows, doors, and vapour barriers,
Nieweglowski has worked in the construction industry for 40 years.
Both he and the other instructor in the program are registered journeymen carpenters.
He said there's a "terrible" shortage of trained residential construction workers in the Thunder Bay area.
"We just can't send people out there who have no construction experience. We'd get calls back from the employer saying 'These people aren't working safe. They don't know what to do.' Now everybody that's going to get on a job site has to take one of our programs here so that they feel more confident on the job. With us at LiUNA, if you have no experience, you need to take one of our programs."
Nieweglowski said a lot of unions and employers don't want to take on brand new people or trainees because it's not only a health and safety risk, but it also cuts down on productivity
He said participants in the upcoming training course will each receive a power toolkit and personal protective equipment such as work boots and goggles.
"We put in our proposal (to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development) to make this as easy as possible for people to get into the program without any barriers."
Women interested in applying for the program are invited to drop into the LiUNA office at 730 Balmoral St. to get more information and tour the training facility.
NOTE: This story was updated at 6:40 pm on Apr. 7 to clarify that the training course starts on July 21.
