Ontario College of Trades announces apprenticeship ratio reviews

TORONTO
Source

The Ontario College of Trades’ first apprenticeship ratio reviews will be held this April.

The College was legislated in 2009 and was formed as a response to one of the recommendations suggested in the 2008 Compulsory Certification Project Review by Tim Armstrong. It is mandated to review apprenticeship ratios every four years.

“These reviews signal the College’s commitment to its potential members and stakeholders, and their intention to solicit their feedback and hear their voices on issues that impact their practices and businesses across the province,” the College said in a statement this week.

“The College believes that the open and transparent review of these ratios is an important step in promoting fairness and safety in the workplace.”

The first review is scheduled for April 2012 and includes: Group 1 — floor covering installer; Group 2 — hoisting engineer: mobile crane operator-Br1, hoisting engineer: mobile crane operator-Br2, hoisting engineer: tower crane operator; Group 3 — precast concrete erector, precast concrete finisher; Group 4 — cement concrete finisher, cement mason.

The schedule is divided into four groupings (Groups A, B, C, D) and divided further into 21 groups of the individual trades.

A review panel of three people will be chosen from the College’s roster of adjudicators that has representatives from the four sectors represented by the College: construction, industrial, motive power and services as well as the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB).

The construction sector rosterof adjudicators are Gary Beer, Philip Besseling, Robert Bradford, Valerie Brennan, Wayne Lazzarato, Larry Lineham, Scott McCoy, George McMenemy, Stanislav Panasyuk, John Tomlinson and Clive Thurston. From the OLRB: Bernie Fishbein (chair), Diane Gee (alternate chair), Ian Anderson (vice-chair), James Hayes (vice-chair), John Lewis (vice-chair), David McKee (vice-chair), Corrine Murray (vice-chair), Lee Shouldice (vice-chair), Jack Slaughter(vice-chair) and Tanja Wacyk (vice-chair).

John Grimshaw and Patrick Flynn will represent the industrial sector.

Kathy Cook and Rock Mongeon represent motive power and Matthew Brook and Veni Perrotte represent the service sector.

The length of time on the roster varies between two and three-year terms.

There will be an invitation to make written submissions on the website with a deadline and once they are received, they will be passed on to the panel.

All written submissions will be posted on the Ontario College of Trades website. This is followed by a hearing where the panel listens to oral submissions. The panel will then make a decision and provide it to the board of governors.

In a December 2011 interview with the Daily Commercial News, Ron Johnson, College chair, said he hoped the 34 trades with ratios will be reviewed within the first two years of the College.

DCN NEWS SERVICES