VANCOUVER PROVINCE features story on LMS
Men (and Women) of Steel Wanted
Rebar Installers: Now a Nationally Certified Trade in High Demand
by Wendy McLellan, The Province, Sunday, December 10, 2006
The woman with the seductive voice coaxes listeners to put on their hard hats and apply for work at LMS Reinforcing Steel Group.
"We're looking for big, strong, able-bodied men for steel work… please, don't make me beg," she purrs, with a sexy little moan and a quick sentence about the company's competitive pay, good benefits and opportunities for advancement.
"I'm waiting, hoping," she says. "Because I really dig steelworkers."
The ear-catching radio ad, which airs during Canucks games on Team 1040, is a creative attempt to lure new workers to LMS, a Surrey-based company that fabricates and installs reinforcing steel—rebar—for concrete structures.
Reinforcing-steel installers are in huge demand, and with the pace of new construction in BC, the work is not likely to slow down in the foreseeable future.
Until last year, apprentices learned the trade as part of their training as ironworkers.
But BC now recognizes reinforcing-steel installers as a separate specialty with its own apprenticeship program.
Last month, the trade became a "Red Seal" trade nationally, which allows certified installers to work
in any province.
"Every concrete structure, from house basements to highrise buildings to bridges, needs reinforcing steel to keep it up," said Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of BC. And with concrete quickly becoming the material of choice for builders, demand for skilled rebar installers will only increase.
Greg Hubbard, general manager of LMS Reinforcing Steel Group, said the company is always looking for more workers—men and women—interested in learning to install reinforcing steel.
He said the company employs more than 200 installers—only a handful are women—and offers an apprenticeship program to train more workers who show an interest in the job.
"It's a fairly demanding job, physically," Hubbard said. "You're outside and you get dirty. But what's nice about the job is you're part of building the structure. You're rarely in the same place more than one day and the site is always changing.
"It's not like going to the same cubicle every day, doing the same thing and looking at the same people."
At LMS, workers who make it past the interview attend a three-day pre-training workshop to learn about safety and the terminology of the trade. If they are still interested in the job, they are partnered with an experienced installer on a construction site and begin learning the trade.
Hubbard said installers who are motivated can quickly be given supervisory roles and advanced training to learn how to set up job sites and manage work crews.
Mike Fredbeck got a job at LMS three years ago, and the 22-year-old Surrey resident is happy with his career choice.
"I like being outdoors and doing physical work," said Fredbeck, who is currently working on a 22-storey highrise near Science World in Vancouver. "I get to meet a lot of interesting people and the money is good."
After three years on the job, he is now supervising four other workers on the crew and one day hopes to be a foreman or supervisor of a larger team.
"There are a lot of trades where I'd still be at the bottom after three years," he said.
wmclellan@png.canwest.com
JOB FACTS
How much can you earn?
The starting wage for apprentices is $14 an hour, but the rate increases quickly. Skilled workers with several years on the job can earn about $30 an hour. And overtime is usually an option.
How long does it take to train?
The apprenticeship program normally takes two years to complete.
What do you need to get a job?
Work clothes made to get dirty, steel-toed work boots and a hard hat.
What kind of people make the best reinforcing-steel installers?
Men and women who are physically strong, active, willing to get dirty and prepared to work outdoors. Size doesn't matter.
Ran with fact box "Job Facts" which has been appended to the story.
©The Vancouver Province, 2006.
