Irving recruiting in BAE’S backyard
Irving Shipbuilding is attempting to lure talent from across the pond.
According to U.K. media reports, Irving has been attempting to hire engineers and managers from Furness shipyard to come work in Nova Scotia since October.
Reports say some current BAE Systems employees have been contacted and even offered “a new home and full relocation package” if they agreed to move.
According to the North-west Evening Mail, a paper based in Barrow-in-furness, an ad in their Monday edition by an unnamed “world-class shipbuilder” based in Halifax offered confidential chat and full job/company details to interested shipbuilders with a background in engineering or management.
Irving is the prime contractor for the combat portion of the government’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and the Halifax shipyard is currently constructing six Harry Dewolfclass Arctic offshore patrol ships, and will build a fleet of 15 Canadian Surface Combatants with a budget of $56 to $60 billion, starting in the 2020s.
Irving has come under fire for its foreign hiring practices in the past year, most recently by union- ized workers at its own yard.
Last winter, Saltwire Network learned Irving was holding job fairs in Eastern European cities such as Gdansk, Poland, and had hired a full-time, permanent international recruiter. Around the same time, the company also received criticism from the union for hiring a Spanish naval outfitting contractor to bring in employees for carpentry work on the Arctic and offshore patrol ships it is currently building as part of its $60-billion contract to build new vessels for the Canadian navy.
“We are currently recruiting throughout Canada and internationally for individuals with new-build shipbuilding experience to join our growing team. This includes positions such as specialist engineers and production managers among many others. Ninety-six per cent of our workforce is Canadian and we continue to actively recruit Canadians first,” said Sean Lewis, communications director for Irving Shipbuilding Inc.
Since one of the government’s aims is to rebuild the shipping industry after it was decimated by decades of boom and bust cycles, experts aren’t surprised Irving is looking to build up its own talent with experienced workers from other yards.
“They would likely be after people that have managerial and corporate skills, that have sat down and done the various staff checks that need doing before you set out building anything – feasibility, efficiency, economy, budget, supply chain, all of those things,” Ken Hansen, a retired navy commander and defence analyst said.
BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin Canada are part of a team that bid in November for the ship design and combat systems integrator contract as part of the Canadian Surface Combatant project, offering up BAE’S Type 26 Global Combat Ship, a model that is currently being built for the Royal Navy at a yard in Scotland.
The Type 26, arguably the newest and most advanced vessel of its kind in the world, is also long rumoured to be a favourite of Royal Canadian Navy officials. While that doesn’t mean they’ll win the competition, Hansen said if they do, it will no doubt be beneficial for Irving to have some higher-level employees with BAE experience.
“I think they’re looking for managing skills first but the secondary benefit is . . . they would have people that are already familiar with the Type 26 program,” said Hansen.