News

Ontario’s Labour Minister, David Piccini, was recently designated by provincial premiers and labour ministers across the country to lead a national effort to dismantle barriers to labour mobility and harmonize construction safety standards.  Read more here.

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The Government of Canada is investing close to $9 million in Canada’s Building Trades Unions to support the development, delivery and evaluation of green training for unionized and non-unionized sheet metal apprentices and journeypersons.  Read more here.

A shortage of qualified people to work in skilled trades is making rising costs of living even worse, economists and trade industry veterans say.

“It used to be 70 or 80 bucks for somebody to come to your house as a service call just to look at your dishwasher; now you’re going to pay double that,” said Mandy Rennehan, founder and CEO of construction company Freshco, which specializes in building retail stores.

And it’s not just homeowners paying the price.  Read more here.

Artificial intelligence and automation are having a limited impact on hiring, according to a recent report.  Read more here.

Province rolls out new labour mobility, internal free-trade regulations to help employers access skilled talent more quickly.  Read more here.

Ontario’s unionized building trades, select contractors and major-project owners are stepping up their efforts to ensure Ontario’s next wave of large construction projects is fully resourced by a well-trained workforce.  Read more here.

Having an automated external defibrillator (AED) on hand at a construction site could be the difference between life and death if an incident occurs.  That was the stark and explicit warning from medical and industry professionals who spoke at a webinar on the topic recently.  Read more here.

Inorganic lead dust is the most significant health exposure in battery manufacture. Lead can be absorbed into the body by inhalation and ingestion. Inhalation of airborne lead is generally the most important source of occupational lead absorption. Once in the blood stream, lead is circulated throughout the body and stored in various organs and body tissues (e.g., kidney liver, brain, bone marrow, bones and teeth). Absorption via the gastrointestinal track following ingestion is highly dependent upon the presence of levels of calcium, iron, fats, and proteins.  Read more on battery manufacturing hazards here.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as both a significant threat and a crucial tool in the fight against cybercrime. While AI has greatly augmented threat actors’ attacks, a new study by IBM said AI tools can shorten the lifecycle of a data breach and reduce costs for businesses by as much as $2.84 million.  Read entire article here.