Employers: get your foot in on the action

Labour Day, which falls on Sept. 4 this year, celebrates and acknowledges working people and marks the end of summer and the start of fall – the season for back to school, and often back to business, where new projects ramp up and goals are set. For anyone in Greater Victoria’s vibrant skilled-trades industries, it also means planning for apprentices.

The historic practice of apprenticeship is still very much applicable in the modern world. There’s a reason why apprenticeship hasn’t lost its appeal since first taking root in the Middle Ages: It ensures that a company always has a new generation of competent workers coming up, and that an older generation of skilled tradespeople are passing along their extensive skills and knowledge to new hires.

The Ralmax Group of Companies (Ralmax) is a heartening example of the strength of apprenticeship. This diversified group of local industrial businesses, clustered in and around Victoria’s working harbor, is committed to hiring and supporting apprentices, recognizing the value that lifelong career opportunities for people of all backgrounds creates in the community.

With 15 apprentices currently employed at Ralmax in trades ranging from welder to millwright, from sheet metal to electrician, the company recognizes that hiring apprentices is critical to Ralmax’s success.

For employees and job-seekers alike, a strong apprentice program like the one Ralmax has in place can be life-changing. Apprenticing into a trade helps people quickly get beyond entry-level salaries and low-paying unskilled work, and into jobs that can support their families and into income categories that are sufficient – even in communities where the cost of living is high.

One of Ralmax’s most innovative apprentice initiatives is a five-year-old partnership with the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, to increase Indigenous representation in the trades. Seven of Ralmax’s 15 apprentices are Indigenous – a direct result of that partnership.

That initiative stemmed from the acquisition of a marine construction business that would be owned and operated by the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. Salish Sea Industrial Services has been operating since May 2012 under an ownership agreement between Ralmax and the two Nations, and this enterprise has realized significant economic development opportunities and corresponding job training opportunities for their communities as a result.

“As waterborne people who lived prosperous lives on the harbour, it made sense to the First Nations Chiefs and to Ralmax owner Ian Maxwell, that Indigenous families should once again return to the harbour to share in the local economy and to prosper,” says Nick Persaud, Ralmax Human Resources Manager.

“We are very proud of the role that Salish Sea Industrial Services plays in helping create applied learning opportunities and skills training for our Communities. We are highly competitive in the market, and we have developed a reputation for quality workmanship and reliability,” said Karen Tunkara, Director, Salish Sea Industrial Services Ltd. and Council Member, Songhees Nation.

“We are an active and visible part of the harbour economy once again, and our partnership with Ralmax continues to evolve, providing meaningful opportunities for employment and career advancement.

“We have community members who are apprentices now, and some have their eye on becoming journeymen. These individuals are strong wage-earners and they are mentoring our youth showing them the way forward.”

Ralmax works closely with the Industry Training Authority (ITA) to strengthen its Indigenous program strategy. ITA is responsible for leading and coordinating the skilled trades system in B.C., and works with training providers, government, industry and employers like Ralmax to help them make connections and create opportunities in the trades. ITA strives to ensure the province has the right workers in the right place and at the right time – to meet the growing demand for skilled labour.

As more people enter the skilled trades, the need grows for employers to hire apprentices to provide the crucial on-the-job training required to achieve certification. In the spirit of Labour Day, businesses would do well to follow the example of Ralmax and think of apprenticeship as an opportunity, not only for business success, but as a vital mechanism for fueling the B.C. economy through job creation.

Learn more about the benefits of hiring apprentices, and find out what it takes for you to become an employer sponsor at: