College addresses worker shortages.

• Author: GOULIQUER, DIANNE
• Position: Mechanical and maintenance operations skills training - Brief Article

Virtually any industry in need of skilled tradespeople for mechanical and maintenance operations stands to benefit from a new co-operative program being added to Thunder Bay's Confederation College.

The two-year mechanical engineering technician co operative program will address a looming shortage of workers, particularly millwrights, machinists and steam-fitters in Northern Ontario, says Morris Uremovich, program chair.

In particular, the program will produce skilled employees for the pulp and paper industry, which played a big role in getting the program added to the college.

"We saw there was a need in the community" for skilled workers at the technician level, Uremovich says. "Mainly our focus is the pulp and paper industry because when they were looking at their demographics, they were seeing a big need for technical graduates.

The program was designed specifically to address the needs of Northern Ontario industries, Uremovich says. With the assistance of 15 forest -products companies located throughout northwestern Ontario, the school developed a course/of study that will meet the highly technical and skilled educational training needs of the forest products manufacturing sector.

Forest companies have raised the academic requirements for people applying for millwright, machinist and steamfitter jobs, Uremovich says. But graduates of the mechanical engineering technician program will be pre pared to meet the growing needs of the industry, and will...