MAPLE RIDGE – This year, Ironworkers Local 97 have been selected as a recipient of the Workplace Innovation Fund by the Government of British Columbia to support their efforts in recruiting more young people to ironwork.

“Ironworkers Local 97’s project champions inclusive training and upskilling opportunities in the ironworker trades throughout B.C., leveraging successful programs from other provinces to engage diverse participants through both remote and hands-on training approaches,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. “The Workplace Innovation Fund is showing us the ingenuity of B.C.’s construction sector. Projects like this will help test and implement new ideas to address labour shortages and prepare for a changing economy, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.”

As a recipient of the Workforce Innovation Fund, Local 97, which represents 2,300 ironworkers in British Columbia and Yukon, will receive $537,000 to deliver new, innovative recruitment efforts with young people and workers in rural areas and Indigenous communities throughout the province.

“Ironworkers are building our communities from the ground up. Building the infrastructure our province needs means growing our skilled workforce and the Ironworkers are committed to equitable growth in the trades,” said Doug Parton, Business Manager and Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Ironworkers Local 97. “This funding from the B.C. government is an opportunity to recruit and create more jobs for ironworkers in the province – sustainable jobs families rely on that help power our economy.”

The Workplace Innovation Fund will support three parts of Local 97’s programming:

1. Innovative approach to high school recruitment: full day presentations at high schools across the province.
2. New Ironworker bootcamp: three-week training bootcamps to recruit and quickly train new workers to meet labour demand and safely prepare people for work experience following apprenticeship.
3. Modernized remote welding training program: two-week remote welding practice sessions to help workers enhance their welding skills and complete their Canadian Welding Bureau testing to meet labour demand in rural and remote parts of the province. This regional approach also better supports Indigenous members where they live and work.

“Ironwork provides good paying jobs in our communities that help British Columbians build a bright future for themselves and their families,” said Derek Dinzey, Community Liaison, Ironworkers Local 97. “There is a wealth of opportunity for young workers to enter this rewarding career and this investment will support our work in showing young people they have a future in this trade.”

About Ironworkers Local 97:

Ironworkers Local 97 represent 2,300 hardworking men, women, and workers in underrepresented group in British Columbia and Yukon, including workers in their apprenticeship that are 21 per cent Indigenous and seven per cent women. Ironworkers build the infrastructure British Columbians rely on, from the buildings they work in, to the bridges they travel across. Ironworkers are building our communities from the ground up.