The BC government is moving ahead with mandatory trades certification over the next two years, as it deals with a growing skills shortage due to retirements.
The province decided last summer that certification would return for ten trades, and the province began consultation to implement this direction while keeping experienced but uncertified people on the job. The requirement will be phased in between now and 2024.
The BC government began the return to compulsory certification in June 2021, for the estimated 100,000 people working in skilled trades, starting with electrical, automotive, and mechanical trades such as pipefitters and sheet metal workers. The Industry Training Authority, set up in 2003, is being renamed SkilledTradesBC.
Recommendations from the BC Federation of Labour spurred the move. The group made the case that decertifying trades was a shift to employers and their immediate skill needs, at the expense of completion of traditional trades.
Certification requirement was removed in 2003 under former premier Gordon Campbell, and the Crown corporation Industry Training Authority was set up to manage apprentices.
The first ten trades that required certification are gasfitter Class A and B, steamfitter and pipefitter, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, sheet metal worker, powerline technician, industrial electrician and electrician (construction), heavy-duty equipment technician, automotive service technician ,and autobody and collision technician.
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