Crossflow. Summer 2007.
(click here for full magazine in Adobe pdf format).
ON THE COVER: STUDY IT PAYS TO HIRE AN APPRENTICE
Linda White
Special to the Sun
Ask employers why they don’t hire apprentices and they’ll often blame the cost of training. But a new study suggests apprentices more than earn their keep – they actually generate profits. And that finding could lead to new opportunities for youth. “Those in the labour movement concerned about apprenticeship and shortages of skilled workers are encouraged by the results of the study,” says Allan Bruce, chair of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum – Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage (CAF-FCA), Return on Training Investment Project Committee and representative of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Read more...
MULTITASKING: IS IT PRODUCTIVE OR
By Leo Gervais
You’re writing a report when the phone rings. You answer it. Then, your buddy Rob appears in your MSN Messenger window, asking you to go to a show tonight. A familiar sound comes from your computer – “You’ve got mail!” You’re now reading, writing, talking and chatting – yes, you’re multitasking. Read more...
TRAINING CENTRE LAUNCHES FIRST CLASSES
April 30, 2007 marked a red-letter day for Ontario’s newest apprentice training facility. At 8 a.m. the doors of the Ontario Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre opened to admit 24 newly registered apprentices to the first round of classes in what is broadly regarded as a bold step forward for the sheet metal industry. As Kevin Rabishaw the Centre’s executive director, noted, the opening of the doors was “a momentous moment, a landmark in industry history in the province.” In welcoming the first apprentice class, Rabishaw was joined by Elizabeth Yango, Training Consultant of the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges (Apprentice Client Services Unit) and the teaching team Greg Rodgers the Centre’s coordinator of training and chief instructor Robert Saipe, a former national apprentice champion himself (Crossflow Sept./Oct. 2001). Read more...
Attorney’s Advice - No Charge
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of this advice. A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company... Read more...
CANADIAN APPRENTICE COMPETITION 2006
On Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 the 31st annual Canadian Sheet Metal Workers Apprenticeship Competition drew to a close with the awards dinner. The competition, from July 20th to July 22nd, was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Eleven sheet metal apprentices from ten union locals across Canada took part. Read more...
MAKE WORKING LUNCHES WORK FOR YOU
By Allison Martens
Forget about the fabled three-martini lunches of yore. A working lunch is neither work nor lunch. Though once seen as an employee’s private time, the lunch break now provides another hour for planners or managers to shoehorn in essential meetings that they can’t squeeze into the other eight.
People make hundreds of crucial decisions each day while they break bread. So how to turn your working lunch from hostage taking into a raging success? Plan ahead. Read more...
OSM Legal Matters in Capable Hands
When David Daniels rises to defend OSM’s interests, he brings with him a wealth of experience and a fascinating background. A partner at Miller Thomson LLP, Daniels has extensive expertise in matters relating to labour and employment relations. In possession of significant experience in the specialized area of construction industry labour relations law, Daniels has represented owners, general contractors, consultants, subcontractors, construction associations and developers in virtually all types of proceedings before the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Read more...
New Heat Stress Guide
The Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario (OHSCO) has released a new Heat Stress Awareness Guide, endorsed by the MOL and the WSIB. OHSCO – which includes CSAO, Ontario’s other health and safety associations, the MOL and the WSIB – recognized a problem with existing heat-stress guidelines. They were based on wet bulb globe temperature, which requires the use of a specialized and expensive instrument. OHSCO wanted to ensure that all workplaces could assess heat-stress accurately and inexpensively, and then use the information to protect workers.
Read more...
RESILIENCY MAKES A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE
But What Can It Do For You?
By Michael H. Ballard
Imagine a set of skills that could enhance your quality of life. Interested? Research on resiliency at several leading institutions shows that it can make a significant difference in most of our lives. Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from life’s everyday obstacles and overwhelming challenges. The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the topic, some key components and to show two examples of the paybacks of being resilient. Researchers are concluding that each person has an innate capacity for resiliency,” a self-righting tendency” that operates best when people of all ages have resiliency-building conditions in their lives. Read more...
SCHOLARSHIP MAKES FOR A SUCCESSFUL YEAR
While university-level studies are definitely more challenging than high school, according to Kristin Westerhof, the winner of the 2006 Wally McIntosh Memorial Scholarship, the $1,000 award made managing expenses a lighter burden. A first-year student at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kristin is majoring in psychology with music as a minor. When she completes her undergraduate work, Kristin plans to pursue a Master’s degree in psychology and go into music therapy. “First year was difficult,” she reports, “but I worked hard and got good grades. I was grateful for the scholarship and put it towards my tuition costs.” Read more...
