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Learning and clean water: labour takes the plunge
Following a 2002 inquiry into a serious incident of contaminated water in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, water and wastewater workers now have to be certified by June 2005. For many of these workers, certification is going to be a problem.
“The union-led Sector Committee… is committed to looking at the certification issue from a worker-centred point of view.”
In northern Saskatchewan and in small communities across the province, many got their Grade 12 decades ago, while others never went past Grade 8 or 10. Although the workers may well be doing their jobs safely and effectively, they could face problems with the certification exams if they have difficulty reading text and documents or if they have forgotten math skills they don’t use. They may also need help with how to take an exam: dealing with multiple choice questions, for example, and managing exam anxiety.
The aim of the Water and Wastewater Workers Essential Skills Project is to support workers in the sector who face losing their jobs or being frozen in their current jobs if they do not get certification. The project is surveying workers across the province to see what their training needs are in essential skills and recommending training strategies.
The union-led Sector Committee for the project, with representation from CUPE and CEP and co-chaired by Ron Torgerson of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL), is committed to looking at the certification issue from a workercentred point of view.
For more information on the project, contact Naomi Frankel, Project Coordinator at: waterworkersproject@mail.com
